Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2024 i Who Do You Think You Are?

Every year I get super excited by the arrival of Jonathan Scott's copy for our 50 websites to watch article (page 14). A lot of time and effort goes into collating the list and I appreciate all of the archives, groups and companies who respond to his requests for information. Reading about what is coming down the line for family historians not only gives me ideas research. What are you most looking forward to in 2024? If you've got someone in you family tree who was involved in policing London, then you will enjoy our article about the Met on page 29. We are greteful to Edward Smith at the Metropolitan Police Museum for his advice, including where to find free records online. I also enjoyed Paul Blake's masterclass on…

Civil records for the US state of Maryland have been released by nonprofit group Reclaim the Records (www.reclaimtherecords.org) following a Freedom of Information request. Available on the Internet Archive (archive.org) they consist of images of selected birth certificates from 1875–1922; the state birth index from 1898–1951; Baltimore birth indexes from 1875–1941 and 1950–1972; marriage certificates from 1914–1940, June 1951– 1988 and 2007–2013; death certificates from 1898–2012; death indexes from 1898–1968 and 1973–2014; the Baltimore death index for 1875–1972; and the card index to immigration and naturalisation records for multiple courts in Baltimore (County 1796– 1851 and City 1827–1933).…

ANCESTRYDNA w ancestry.co.uk/dna Ancestry's autosomal DNA test can be taken by both men and women. Lynsey interpreted the results of her test to take her tree back five generations. HISTORY OF PARLIAMENT w historyofparliamentonline.org Whether you're looking for biographies of members or extensive information about particular constituencies, you'll be able to find it here. WILTSHIRE AND SWINDON HISTORY CENTRE a Cocklebury Road, Chippenham, Wiltshire SN15 3QN t 01249 705500 e heritageadmin@wiltshire.gov.uk w wshc.org.uk The centre holds the Salisbury Diocesan Probate collection: 105,000 wills and inventories dating from the mid-16th century to the Victorian period. The records cover Wiltshire and Berkshire, parts of Dorset and Devon, and can be accessed in Ancestry's collection ‘Wiltshire, England, Wills and Probate, 1530–1858’ (ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/61333).…

Who was Georgina's real father? Q My 3x great grandmother, Georgina (Georgiana) Allen, was born in Saltley, Warwickshire, around 1829 according to censuses (1851–1901). Several of my DNA matches lead me to believe that Joseph Allen and Maria Heritage are either my 4x or 5x great grandparents. The amount of DNA shared with my matches suggests that Georgina may have been the child of one of Joseph and Maria's six daughters. However, Georgina named Joseph as her father on her marriage certificate in 1871. How do I track down a baptism record to confirm her parentage? Ann Baldwin A You don't say whether you have identified the baptisms for Joseph and Maria's other children, but the family may have been members of a nonconformist church. While most surviving nonconformist baptisms…

Q I found this photo when my mother died. I have no clue as to who the soldier is, and I wonder if you can identify his regiment. My cousin's father served in the Crimean War. Could it be him? Mrs P Burton A This is a studio photograph of a Volunteer (part-time) colour sergeant, probably taken in the late 1890s. The Volunteers were formed in 1859 when the Regular Army was stretched and the Militia had fallen into abeyance. Initially, they paid for their own weapons but gradually became attached to Regular Army regiments, becoming the Territorial Force in 1908. Without a badge, finding the battalion is difficult. The “IV” on the water bottle probably means 4th Battalion, but unfortunately most Volunteer battalions became 4th or 5th regimental battalions.…

YOUR CELEBRATING DISCOVERIES Prior to mid-Victorian times, divorce was only accessible to wealthy, influential people, most of whom were men. Each individual case required a private Act of Parliament to be passed. Even after the major reforms that were introduced by the 1857 Matrimonial Causes Act, divorce remained a complex, expensive and taboo subject for the Victorians. As a result, many working-class couples chose to separate and perhaps cohabit with another partner. Tim Cook was faced with a puzzle regarding an elusive ancestor. He explains how the mystery unravelled. MY BRICK WALL During the spring lockdown of 2020, I made use of the spare time by taking out a one-month subscription to the British Newspaper Archive (britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk), which provides online access to the British Library's vast collection. I can heartily…

1609 The Plantation of Ulster follows the 1607 ‘Flight of the Earls’ when leading Gaelic chiefs fled into exile in Europe, with the colonisation of forfeited lands in several counties by Scots and English settlers. 1642 The first Presbytery is established at Carrickfergus in County Antrim by an invading Scots army led by Robert Munro. Presbyterianism soon becomes Ulster's largest denomination. 1801 In the aftermath of the failed 1798 United Irishmen rebellion (pictured), the Acts of Union take effect from 1 January, binding Ireland to Great Britain in a new ‘United Kingdom’. 1888 Queen Victoria grants Belfast the status of a city. The Latin motto on its new coat of arms means,“What shall we give back in return for so much?” 1888 In Belfast Scottish inventor and veterinary surgeon John…

Are any of these in your family tree? DOHERTY This name originated in County Donegal with the Ó Dochartaigh or Dochartach (meaning ‘hurtful’), clan, who according to legend descended from the semi-historical king Niall of the Nine Hostages. GRAHAM Taken from the Norman ‘de Graham’, this name was brought over from Scotland, the family being a principal riding clan of the Borders. HEAN(E)Y Heany comes from the Gaelic name Ó hÉighnigh, from the ancient kings of Fermanagh and Oriel, and is particularly common in Armagh. KELLY Originally Ó Ceallaigh (meaning ‘descendant of Ceallach’), many Kellys in Northern Ireland descend from the family in Derry and Tyrone. LYNCH This name derives from the Ulster Gaelic sept (clan) Ó Loingsigh (loingseach means ‘mariner’), and is common in Londonderry and Antrim. McLAUGHLIN McLaughlin…

I spend a lot of time trawling historic newspapers, and I used to advise subscribers to Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk) to first use the British Newspaper Archive (britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) search engine then view relevant results on Findmypast – far from ideal. So I'm thrilled that the site's search functionality has improved (see page 52). Even if you don't subscribe, you can register and view lots of free pages…

The International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC) in Lincoln is appealing for volunteers around the world to help compile, photograph and geo-locate memorials to members of RAF Bomber Command. The Memorials Project started in 2017 and has now successfully recorded all known memorials to Bomber Command in the UK, covering Bomber Command's entire existence (1936–1968), including stained-glass windows, sculptures and plaques. It has created 190,000 records altogether, which have been inputted into the IBCC Losses Database (https://internationalbcc.co.uk/history/losses-database/). The next step is to capture memorials in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Eire, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland, so volunteers are sought in these countries. Please email info@internationalbcc.co.uk with “Memorials” in the subject line for details.…

Local campaigners have started a petition calling on the Royal Borough of Greenwich Council to restore its archive service. In 2018 the Greenwich Heritage Centre, based in the Royal Arsenal, closed. Museum and archive services were moved to the care of the Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust at Charlton House. Access to the archives is by appointment only, with charges for appointments of longer than half an hour. The Greenwich Industrial History Society's petition at tinyurl.com/change-org-gihs says, “We urge Greenwich Council to restore a properly functioning archive and museum service to enable everyone to celebrate and research our heritage.” It was launched on 30 October 2023 and has 1,629 signatures at the time of writing. A council spokesperson commented, “The archives did not close and are accessible through Royal Greenwich Heritage…

1 SCOTTISH BORDERS ARCHIVES w calmview.eu/HUBCAT/CalmView/default.aspx The team are adding local-studies collections to their online catalogue, alongside material that is held by the region's museums. 2 NORTHUMBERLAND & DURHAM FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY w ndfhs.org.uk The family history society is enlarging its probate records index (1701–1858) to cover 1650–1700. It's also indexing promoters and defendants from the Bishop of Durham's Consistory Court. 3 CUMBRIA FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY w cumbriafhs.com The society is giving its website a complete makeover in 2024. When finished members and visitors will be able to find publications and database records via a county map, as well as use a unified surname search for more than 350,000 individuals. 4 FACING THE PAST w facingthepast.org This newcomer highlights Lancaster's historic role in the transatlantic slave trade through an interactive digital map.…

FOCUS ON THE METROPOLITAN POLICE Formed in 1829, the Metropolitan Police took over from the medieval system of parish constables. Taking in areas within 15 miles of Charing Cross, it also subsumed the 18th-century Bow Street Runners and River Police in 1839 – the latter became Thames Division, some of whose pension registers can be accessed if you visit the Thames River Police Museum in Wapping (thamespolicemuseum.org.uk/museum). Between 1860 and 1934 Met officers could also be found in the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, and at the naval dockyards in Chatham, Devonport, Pembroke and Portsmouth, while Rosyth on the Firth of Forth was added in 1916. Regular officers were supplemented by Special Constables, and by War Reserve Constables in the Second World War. The Met's architects, clerks and other administrators were known…

Edward recommends these online sources if your relation served in the Met ANCESTRY w ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/61310 Here you'll find pension registers from MEPO 21 at The National Archives in Kew. These include an officer's birthdate and birthplace, parents’ names, next of kin and address. DISCOVERY w discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk TNA also holds Metropolitan Police records in series MEPO 4. Its online catalogue can help you locate your forebear in the records, and download them for free if you're logged in. OLD BAILEY ONLINE w oldbaileyonline.org You can search transcriptions from 197,745 trials at London's central criminal court via this site. If an officer gave evidence he would often be mentioned by rank and surname.…

Readers might be interested in the free resources available on the Romany and Traveller Family History Society's site at rtfhs.org.uk/free-records. In particular there are links to transcriptions of baptisms/birth records, marriages and burials/ deaths, and we add to these at least once a quarter. Also, in the first few months of 2024 we are planning to make two new collections available on the site. The first is the Keith Chandler Romany Musicians Collection. This contains mini biographies of British Romanies who gave their occupations as musicians in historic documents, complete with details of their families and source references. We believe this will be of interest not only to those researching their Gypsy/Traveller trees but also to those researching the history of British folk music, morris dancing and social customs. The…

The Lanark District Asylum, also known as Hartwood Hospital, opened in 1895 near Shotts in North Lanarkshire. It was initially used primarily as an asylum for ‘pauper lunatics’ from local workhouses. After the founding of the National Health Service in 1948 it continued to operate as a psychiatric hospital, changing its name to Hartwood Hospital, until its closure in 1998. Within its extensive grounds was a cemetery where 1,255 people are buried. They died between 1895 and 1952 and all but three of them were patients, mainly paupers. Local women Loraine Duncan and Rhona Barr have now started Friends of Hartwood Paupers Cemetery (FOHCP; fohpc.com), a project to preserve the cemetery and ensure that the people buried there are not forgotten. As Loraine explains, the project has an unusual origin…

DERRY CITY BURIALS w tinyurl.com/derry-strabane-burials Search more than 45,000 transcribed entries from the Derry City Cemetery burial registers (1853–1961), listing both Protestants and Catholics. BELFAST BURIAL RECORDS w tinyurl.com/belfast-city-cem Here you'll find details of burials at Belfast City Cemetery, Dundonald Cemetery and Roselawn Cemetery, including name, date and place of death, and lair. You can also buy images of some burial records for £1.50. PASSENGER LISTS w ulsterancestry.com This website's free resources include passenger lists for ships going to North America and records for each Ulster county in Northern Ireland, plus Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan in the Republic. STREET DIRECTORIES w tinyurl.com/nidirect-databases PRONI's free databases include street directories (1819-1900), post-1858 wills and calendar entries, the 1912 Ulster Covenant, Valuation Revision Books, freeholders's records and Londonderry Corporation records. EMIGRATION RECORDS w…

WATCH NO PLACE LIKE HOME coramstory.org.uk/no-place-like-home-the-story-of-the -foundling-hospital/ Free Made as part of the Coram charity's five-year Voices Through Time project, this 40-minute documentary traces the history of London's 18th-century Foundling Hospital and reveals the poignant stories of some of the children who lived there and their mothers, using Coram's own archives. PODCAST IRONCLAD SISTERHOOD https://ironcladsisterhood.sag.org.au/podcast/ Free This collaborative research project from the Society of Australian Genealogists reimagines the lives of convict women in New South Wales, using an index of records created by genealogist Jessie Hill in the 1970s. You can find out more about the stories the project's uncovered with this podcast. WEBSITE 20 PEOPLE OF THE 20S nationalarchives.gov.uk/20s-people/20-people-of -the-20s/ Free This project by The National Archives at Kew to mark the release of the 1921 census is now…

JONATHAN SCOTT Jonathan writes our ‘Best Websites’ article every issue, but once a year he casts his net wider to uncover the genealogical gems going online in the next 12 months (page 14). EDWARD SMITH Edward has been curatorial assistant at the Metropolitan Police Museum for over five years. A keen genealogist, he shares tips for researching Met officers on page 29. FELICITY DAY Felicity is the author of The Game of Hearts: the Lives and Loves of Regency Women (2022). She talks about dancing and what it meant for our Georgian forebears on page 54.…

PICK OF THE MONTH This online course is aimed at beginners to the hobby STAGE 1 FAMILY HISTORY SKILLS COURSE Starts 6 January w tinyurl.com/sog-stage-one If your New Year's resolution is to get to grips with your family history, this 12-week course from the Society of Genealogists – explaining the essential records for genealogy, where to find them and how you can use them to unlock the secrets of your ancestry – could be just the ticket. The topics covered include getting started, civil registration records, census records, military records, reading old documents and archival research, helping you to add generations to your tree and really understand the historic documents available, many of which are online. £240 including a year's associate membership of the society, £192 for existing members. IN…

Ancestry adds Royal Hospital Chelsea records Family history website Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk) has added a new collection of Royal Hospital Chelsea admission books, registers and papers. The collection dates from 1702–1980 and consists of 680,094 records. As well as providing a home for military veterans, the Royal Hospital was the administrative centre for British Army pensions until 1955. The new Ancestry collection includes records of ‘in-pensioners’, who lived at the hospital, and ‘out-pensioners’, who lived elsewhere but received their pensions from it. GETTY IMAGES / IBCC Blue plaque scheme expanded across England Communities across England will be able to nominate historically significant people from their area to be commemorated with an iconic blue plaque. The 2023 Levelling Up and Regeneration Act has given Historic England (historicengland.org.uk) responsibility for installing them across…

A historian has identified the unknown Victorian man who appears on the cover of Led Zeppelin's fourth studio album, released in 1971. The untitled album is known as Led Zeppelin IV. The cover image (pictured) is a coloured photo of an old man with a bundle of sticks. Brian Edwards, a visiting research fellow with the Regional History Centre at the University of the West of England (uwe.ac.uk/research/centres-and-groups/regional-history), has now found the original blackand-white photograph in an album of Victorian photos from Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire. The photograph depicts Lot Long (1823–1893), a thatcher. At the time the photo was taken, Long was a widower living in a small cottage in Shaftesbury Road, Mere, Wiltshire. The photographer is thought to have been Ernest Howard Farmer (1856–1944), the first head of…

Have you ever wondered why 5 April is the start of the tax year in the UK? It's because it falls 11 days after 25 March, which is itself Lady Day or the Feast of the Annunciation. This marks the day when the archangel Gabriel told Mary that she was with child, and is exactly nine months before Christmas Day, the Feast of Christ's birth. Another question: why the interval of 11 days? Answer: because in 1752 the reorganisation of the calendar, which was implemented so that the terrestrial date caught up with the astronomical cycle, meant that 11 days’ worth of dates were ‘lost’, and 25 March became 5 April. Yet another question: why does any of this matter to family historians? Answer: read on… The reason why 25…

YOUR CELEBRATING DISCOVERIES As she posted off her DNA test, Lynsey Ford had no idea of the amazing family secrets it would help her unlock. She would go on to discover ancestors who were members of Parliament, bishops and authors, and who had links to royalty: James I, Elizabeth I – and even Princess Diana. Lynsey, a postgraduate student at Oxford University with a PhD on the horizon living in Wimbledon, South-West London, is no stranger to research. It's perhaps no surprise then that she would be gripped by the family history bug. “My grandfather used to tell my mother that he knew he was related to a squire, but his knowledge was a bit patchy.” He also had a deep loathing for MPs, which is ironic. “I did my…

Born in St John's Wood in the City of Westminster, John Michael Mulvany lived with his parents until at least the night of the 1871 census, following his father John senior into the Met on 29 May that year as part of P (Camberwell) Division. As reflected in his pension register entry and other sources, he served over 40 years but remained in uniform, unlike his father who rose to the rank of Detective Inspector. their children to Sunbury in T (Hammersmith) Division in 1875, returning to P (Camberwell) in June 1881. Here he became famous for arresting Thomas Neill Cream, better known as the Lambeth Poisoner. His final promotion was to head H (Whitechapel) Division in 1895, living less than 200 yards from Arbour Square Police Station in Stepney.…

BOOK Behind the Blue Lamp Alan Moss, David Swinden and Peter Kennison Mango Books, 2021 This A-to-Z of Metropolitan Police stations and their histories includes images from the Police Museum. The Official Encyclopaedia of Scotland Yard Martin Fido and Keith Skinner Virgin Publishing, 1999 This reference book covers a basic history of the Met and includes appendices on uniforms, medals and deaths in the line of duty. MUSEUMS METROPOLITAN POLICE MUSEUM a Marlowe House, 109 Station Road, Sidcup DA15 7ES e policemuseum@met.police.uk w www.met.police.uk/museums Appointments for the research room (Wednesdays) and tours of the gallery (Thursdays) need to be booked at least a week in advance by email. BOW STREET POLICE MUSEUM a 28 Bow Street, London WC2E 7AW e nfo@bowstreetpolicemuseum.org.uk w bowstreetpolicemuseum.org.uk The museum traces policing from the Runners…

BRITISH HISTORY ONLINE w tinyurl.com/bho-vch-hull It's always worth checking the Victoria County History for your area of interest. The volume for Hull, for example, has summaries of fairs, markets and circuses of the late 18th century. FAIRGROUND ASSOCIATION OF GREAT BRITAIN w fagb.co.uk The association's well-respected quarterly journal The Fairground Mercury includes useful articles about travelling showmen and women. FOLKLORE SOCIETY w folklore-society.com This learned society traces its history back to 1878, and focuses on traditional music, song, dance and drama, folk medicine, food, arts and crafts, customs and belief. HUNTINGDONSHIRE ARCHIVES w tinyurl.com/cambs-gov-huntingdonshire-arch The archive has a register of pedlars’ certificates (1877–1967) on microfilm, granted annually to enable them to sell goods door-to-door. NATIONAL FAIRGROUND AND CIRCUS ARCHIVE w sheffield.ac.uk/nfca This is another hub of information for anyone researching…

ARCHIVE MODERN RECORDS CENTRE a University Library, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL t 024 7652 4219 e archives@warwick.ac.uk w warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc The Modern Records Centre is open weekdays, and has a wealth of material from national trade unions. BOOKS Tracing Your Labour Movement Ancestors Mark Crail Pen & Sword, 2009 Crail explains the history of the labour movement in Britain, and the sources available for researchers. Tracing Your Trade & Craftsman Ancestors Adèle Emm Pen & Sword, 2015 The book's chapters cover the early guilds, merchants, shopkeepers and a range of other trades and crafts. WEBSITE TRADE UNION ANCESTORS w unionancestors.co.uk You can locate a specific trade union in time and place with this website's alphabetical index.…

Q My grandmother told me about the First World War experiences of her husband, Arthur Henry Smith (born 14 January 1876). He was at Gallipoli, and then detailed to France recovering the remains of fallen soldiers after the war. Not as a medic, but a stretcher-bearer, maybe? The story is that he was one of the soldiers chosen to accompany the coffins of deceased soldiers, brought back from the battlefields, for the one to be chosen as the Unknown Warrior for the monument in London. Is there any way of proving this? Mary Costello A Assuming that Arthur was a soldier, I searched for his service record and Medal Index Card on Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk) and Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk), but couldn't find one. The Pension Record Cards (on Ancestry's website Fold 3;…

TECH TIPS Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk) has revamped its newspaper search tool, and the results are impressive. With more than 72 million British and Irish historical newspaper pages in its collection, any mention of your relations in the national or local press is now much easier to track down. The revamped tool offers much smarter search functions, and has both simple and advanced options to steer you towards possible mentions of family members through the centuries. It's also available from the site's main search tool, and any articles that you find can now be ‘clipped’ and added to the relevant individual(s) in your tree. More than 28 million free-to-view articles are available; simply select ‘Free to view’ under the ‘Articles access’ dropdown in the search-results page to see them. To view the…

BOOK An Analysis of Country Dancing Thomas Wilson W Calvert, 1808 In this illustrated manual, a Georgian dance master outlines figures used in country dancing. It can be read via Google Books: tinyurl.com/ggl-bks-dancing. DOCUMENTARY PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: HAVING A BALL BBC, 2013 This 90-minute documentary recreates Austen's Netherfield Ball. You can watch excerpts at tinyurl.com/bbc-co-uk-ball, while the DVD costs £4.99 from Amazon (amazon.co.uk). MUSEUM BATH ASSEMBLY ROOMS a Bennett Street, Bath BA1 2QH t 01225 466414 e bathassemblyrooms@nationaltrust.org.uk w nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/bath-bristol/bath-assembly -rooms Take a tour through one of the splendid spaces where our highsociety forebears danced. WEBSITES REGENCYDANCES.ORG w regencydances.org Garth Notley's unmissable site includes diligently researched papers providing information on everything from dance steps and assembly-room rules to the life stories of teachers and band leaders. You can also see…

AROUND BRITAIN Although not within Britain, the six counties of Northern Ireland – Antrim, Armagh, Derry/ Londonderry, Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone – have been a part of the UK since 1 January 1801. Historically within the province of Ulster in the country of Ireland, the counties were reconstituted into the self-governing territory of Northern Ireland following the island's Partition in 1921. Just a year later, in December 1922, Ireland's other 26 counties elected to leave the UK altogether, with Northern Ireland remaining. The area covered by Northern Ireland has a fascinating, albeit troubled, past. Much of the region was colonised by Scots and English folk in early 17th-century schemes, including the Hamilton and Montgomery settlements in Down and Antrim (1606), and through the Plantation of Ulster (1609) for the remaining…

On Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January, we remember the attempt by the Nazi regime and its collaborators to murder all of European Jewry during the Second World War. Many of us have relations who were killed, or came to Britain as refugees. The scale of the tragedy is hard to fathom, but the voices of the victims can help us to gain some understanding of the true dimension of the crime. The National Holocaust Centre and Museum (NHCM) is located in Laxton, Nottinghamshire, and makes the memory of the Holocaust relevant for today through exhibitions and educational programmes. Its holdings include the diary of Julius Feldman which sheds light on life in the Kraków Ghetto, as NHCM researcher Dr Karen Porter explains. WHO WAS JULIUS FELDMAN? Julius Feldman, affectionately…

MY GRANDPARENTS’ WAR Netflix Now streaming For Netflix subscribers, there's now a chance to catch up with Channel 4’s well-received My Grandparents’ War without the commercial breaks of Channel 4’s streaming service. Each episode features a famous performer investigating the experiences of relations during times of conflict, most usually the Second World War. Across the programme's two series, which aired in 2019 and 2022, the cast list is as starry as anyone could wish for, with episodes featuring, among others, Helena Bonham Carter, Mark Rylance, Carey Mulligan, Toby Jones and Keira Knightley. THE 1970S DINNER PARTY Channel 5 and My5 Late December Were all 1970s dinner parties like Abigail's Party, writer–director Mike Leigh's excruciating 1977 study of Britain's suburban middle classes and their aspirations? Probably not, but many of the…