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Virus Alerts - hoax or real - Look at http://www.mcafeeb2b.com/avert/virus-alerts/default.asp which tells immediately if it is a genuine virus alert and what to look for and how to deal with it and states whether it is a high risk, medium or low risk one Elaine
MacGregor
Hastings Observer :- Woods House, Telford Road, St Leonards on Sea, East Sussex "The Sussex Weekly Advertiser or Lewes Journal" from 1745. - The Brighton Local Studies Library holds copies for 1749, 1751-52, 1769- 84, 1786-1822. "The Hampshire Chronicle & Portsmouth & Chichester Journal" from 1772. - The West Sussex Record Office has copies for 1772-1797. Two websites for the British Library Colindale Newspaper Collection http://www.bl.uk/collections/newspaper/ http://prodigi.bl.uk/nicat/ Canterbury version of the Kent Messenger Gazette. Address; 9 St George's Street, Canterbury, Kent. CT1 1UU. Telephone 01227 762415. Internet site.... http://www.kentonline.co.uk Newspaper Library Catalogue of the British Library is on line. It is now possible to log on to http://prodigi.bl.uk/nlcat/ to find details of the newspapers which have been published and which are held at by the Newspaper Library. You can search by 'Title', 'Place' or 'Date', resulting in a page reporting the hits that match your criteria. Refreshingly, their details are all displayed on one page, and not broken up into (for example) 1-20, 21-40, etc Each hit then links you via the title of the publication to a page giving the catalogue reference numbers and dates held (presumably at Colindale) for the title concerned. A note section tells you, for example, if it is held on microfilm only. If the publication continued under another title, it tells you and gives similar details for that title as well. 'Place' can be as general as the name of a county. The only word of caution is where the name of the county changed in the local government reorganisation of 1974: for example, typing in 'Monmouthshire' resulted in 34 hits whilst typing in 'Gwent' resulted in 108. It is a very user-friendly tool and one which we're sure family historians will be eager to use. Geoff Riggs
"Hidden Places of Kent" Edited by Sean Connolly Travel Publishing Ltd 1998 (First edition 1993) £7:99 "The Companion Guide to Kent and Sussex" by Keith Spence. £4.00 "O Famous Kent" by Eric R. Swain. An evocation of the fair county in old prints. Gives the history of the places illustrated. £4.00 "Ash - An East Kent Village" David Downes, published recently by Phillimore and Co. It is quite large (164 pp) and costs £15. Phillimore has a website at http://www.phillimore.co.uk "History of Kent" by Edward Hasted. 2nd Edition, Vol 6, 1798. It may have been re-printed by now. "Bygone Kent" series of historical journals, published by Meresborough Books, 7 Station Road, Rainham, Kent ME8 7 RS Now out of print the shop has original and back copies and will at the last resort, photocopy, the original. They have a complete index of all articles printed in the series. "Sussex" by Arthur Mee. A unique guide to 10,000 towns and villages of England as history has made them. £5.00 "Sussex" by Esther Meynell. The foreword says " this book is an impression on the history and topography of Sussx. �." £3.00 "History, People and Places in East Sussex" by Iris Bryston-White published 1978 by Spurbooks Ltd., ISBN # 0 902875 79 5. It covers the whole of Sussex. "SUSSEX CAVALCADE" Dr Arthur R Ankers' (Pond View Books) revised 1997 ISBN 1871044 60 X includes over 200 colonisers, inventors, cricketers, artists, priests,statesmen ... £9.95 "An Historical Atlas of Sussex" Edited by Kim Leslie and Brian Short, published by Phillimore & Co Ltd. It goes from Prehistoric to the 20th Cent and there are 70 subjects each with its own particular map. I found it really facinating. Phillimore has a website at http://www.phillimore.co.uk "Maritime
Sussex" by David Harries.
First Edition 1997, Printed by Island Press 3 Cradle Hill
Ind. Estate, E. Sussex BN25 3 JE
£6.99
BMD, BT, BVRI, ESRO, FHC, FHL, FRC, FTM, FT Mag, GEDCOM, GENUKI, GOONS, GRO, IGI, KFHS, LDS, MI, NBI, OED, ONS, PAF, PRO, SCH, SFHG, SKS, SLC, SoG, VKS, WSRO ======================================== BMD - Births, Marriages, & Deaths: The index of civil registration for the United Kingdom from 1837 to the present day. This index was formerly called the St Catherine's House index due to its former location in London. The index is available on microfiche from your local Family History Center, at many major libraries in the UK, and at the Family Records Centre in London among other locations. The index is used to locate index information on birth, marriage, and death registration certificates which can then be ordered directly from the Office for National Statistics. Also see FRC and ONS entries. Ordering Birth Registration Certificates from England & Wales http://www.oz.net/~markhow/ukbirths.htm FreeBMD at RootsWeb http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/ ======================================== BTs - Bishops' Transcripts: Copies of the annual entries into the parish registers were to be sent to the local Bishop from about 1598. For some parishes, the BTs have survived while the original parish egisters have been lost. Be aware that these are copies of the originals and not the originals themselves. In parishes where both the original registers and the BTs exist, consult both. The Emery Paper - Bishops' Transcripts http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/EmeryPaper.html#Bishops ======================================== BVRI - British Vital Records Index - Officially VRI British Isles but that's too awkward! An LDS product on 6 CDs containing a supplement to the IGI. Contains Marriages, Baptisms and some Births. Coverage varies widely for each county. ======================================== ESRO - East Sussex Record Office: The ESRO at Lewes is the place to find all parish registers and many other records relating to the parishes in the current (post 1974) county of East Sussex. One exception is that BTs for the whole of Sussex are held at the West Sussex Record Office (WSRO). East Sussex Record Office http://www.eastsussexcc.gov.uk/archives/main.htm ======================================== FHC - Family History Centre: A network of over 3,000 centres world-wide provide access to the loanable materials of the Family History Library. Often found in association with an LDS church, these centres are usually staffed by LDS volunteers who can assist you in your research activities. They are open to all, you don't have to be an LDS member to use them and they won't attempt to convert you. Cyndi's List - Family History Centers - General Information http://www.CyndisList.com/lds.htm#FHC ======================================== FHL - Family History Library: Located in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, this library is the largest repository of genealogical materials in the world. Microfilm and microfiche copies of a large amount of its materials are available on loan to your local Family History Centre. Search the Family History Library Catalogue http://www.familysearch.org/Search/searchcatalog.asp ======================================== FRC - The Family Records Centre: The Family Records Centre at Myddleton Place in London is the 'new St. Catherine's House' and more. It combines the public search rooms of the Office for National Statistics's General Register Office (indexes for births, marriages, and deaths back to 1837), formerly at St. Catherine's House, with the census and wills rooms of the Public Record Office, formerly in Chancery Lane. The Family Records Centre http://www.pro.gov.uk/about/frc/default.htm ======================================== FTM - Family Tree Maker: The most commercially successful of the many software packages for genealogy. Family Tree Maker http://www.familytreemaker.com/ ======================================== FT Mag - Family Tree Magazine: The most widely circulated snail mail magazine for UK genealogy, Family Tree Magazine is a monthly publication full of useful information. Family Tree Magazine http://www.family-tree.co.uk/ ======================================== GEDCOM - Genealogical Data Communications: The GEDCOM standard is the data format by which genealogists trade their research information on computer files. All major genealogy software packages will convert data into GEDCOM format. The GEDCOM Standard Version 5.5 http://www.tiac.net/users/pmcbride/gedcom/55gctoc.htm ======================================== GENUKI - UK & Ireland Genealogical Information Service: The most complete single source for UK genealogy on the Internet, GENUKI is a co-operative venture relying on volunteers to place genealogy information on the Internet in an organized manner. GENUKI web site http://www.genuki.org.uk/ ======================================== GOONS - Guild Of One Name Studies: This society helps co-ordinate one name studies - research into particular surnames irregardless of pedigree. For example, a one name study may be collecting all the occurrences of the SUSSEX surname whether they are related or not. Guild Of One Name Studies http://www.one-name.org/ ======================================== GRO - The General Register Office: A part of the Office for National Statistics, the GRO is responsible for the recording of births, marriages, and deaths in the England & Wales since 1837. You apply to the GRO for certified copies of birth, marriage, and death certificates. The General Register Office http://www.ons.gov.uk/regist.htm ======================================= IGI - International Genealogical Index: Developed by the LDS (Mormon) Church's Family History Department, the IGI is a finding aid for millions of individuals. Originally on microfiche, then on CD-ROMs at your local Family History Centres, part of the IGI is now available on the Internet Search the IGI http://www.familysearch.org/Search/searchigi.asp All About the I.G.I. http://www.livgenmi.com/fhcigi.htm ======================================== KFHS - Kent Family History Society: The main society for people researching their Kent ancestry. KFHS offers the usual membership benefits of a quarterly magazine and the opportunity to register your research interests. In addition KFHS has many copies of parish registers and many other useful records available for sale on fiche. KFHS also operates a mailing list open to members only. Kent Family History Society http://www.canterhill.co.uk/kfhs/ ======================================== LDS - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Often referred to as the Mormons, members of this denomination have a duty to research their ancestors in order to perform religious rites over the dead. Because of this obligation, the LDS church has developed the largest single repository of genealogy information in the world at their Family History Library. They are gracious enough to share this information with everyone, both LDS and non-LDS. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints http://www.lds.org The LDS FamilySearch genealogy service web site http://www.familysearch.org ======================================== MI - Monumental Inscription: Remembrances inscribed on gravestones. MIs are often recorded by the local Family History Society or other organisation. ======================================== NBI - National Burial Index: The NBI contains UK burials on 2 CDs. There will be further releases but the current version does not have any coverage for Sussex and very little for Kent. ======================================== OED - Oxford English Dictionary: The ultimate reference work on the English language. An excellent source for archaic and obscure words and terms. Available both in a full printed edition, compact edition with micro-printing, and also on CD-ROM. The Oxford English Dictionary http://www.oed.com/ ======================================== ONS - Office for National Statistics: The ONS is responsible for the conduct of the English and Welsh censuses and, through its GRO branch, for the registration of all births, marriages and deaths since 1837. The Office for National Statistics http://www.ons.gov.uk/ ======================================== PAF - Personal Ancestral File: The computer software package put out by the LDS church, PAF probably has more users than any other genealogy software. Order PAF online from the LDS http://www.familysearch.org/OtherResources/Paf_3.0.asp Cyndi's List - Genealogy Software Programs http://www.cyndisList.com/software.htm#Software ======================================== PRO - The Public Record Office: The Public Record Office at Kew, Surrey is the repository of the national archives for England, Wales and the United Kingdom. They are the keepers of the nation's records back to the Domesday book of 1086. The Public Record Office http://www.pro.gov.uk The PRO - Who Are We and What We Do http://www.pro.gov.uk/about/introduction.htm ======================================== SCH - St Catherine's House: Former location of the BMD indexes which were often incorrectly known as the SCH indexes. Now held at the FRC at Myddleton Place, London. See BMD, FRC, GRO and ONS definitions. ======================================== SFHG - Sussex Family History Group: The main society for people researching their Sussex ancestry. SFHG offers the usual membership benefits of a quarterly magazine and the opportunity to register your research interests. The SFHG research interests setup is far superior to that of many other societies. In addition SFHG has copies of some census transcripts and other useful records available for sale on fiche. SFHG also operates a mailing list open to members only. Sussex Family History Group http://www.sfhg.org.uk/ ======================================== SKS - Some Kind Soul: Usually used when begging for a lookup or an explanation on a mailing list. ======================================== SLC - Salt Lake City: In Utah, USA. The headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. See FHC, FHL, IGI, LDS and PAF. ======================================== SoG - Society of Genealogists: The premier society for the study of genealogy and family history in the United Kingdom. Their library in London is excellent, they have a terrific online shopping bookshop, and their publications are often must-haves for serious research. The Society of Genealogists http://www.sog.org.uk/ The SoG's Online Bookshop http://www.sog.org.uk/acatalog/welcome.html ======================================== VKS - Very Kind Soul: Used when asking for a bigger favour than would be expected of SKS! ======================================== WSRO - West Sussex Record Office: The WSRO at Chichester is the place to find all parish registers and many other records relating to the parishes in the current (post 1974) county of West Sussex. In addition the WSRO holds BTs for the whole of Sussex. West Sussex Record Office http://www.westsussex.gov.uk/cs/ro/rohome.htm  Top
War Pensions Agency - http:www.dss.gov.uk/wpa/index.htm Mail to: [email protected] For POW record cards - http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/ - http://www.nesanews.freeserve.co.uk - http://www.the-ex-forces-network.org.uk http://www.egroups.com/group/britregiments/info.html - http://www.barmy.clara.net - http://www.barmy.freeserve.co.uk http://www.du.edu/~tomills/military/uk/bargxref.htm - http://www.egroups.com/group/britregiments/info.html http://members.tripod.com/Caryl_Williams/veterans.html - http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/9460/ http://www.mod.uk/forces/records/rm.htm site for the RAMC - http://www.barmy.co.uk/ Lost Trails - http://www.britishlegion.org Office of Australian War Graves - http://www.dva.gov.au/commem/oawg/wargr.htm Yeomanry and Hussars page - http://www.arbeia.demon.co.uk/srs/collect/badges/yeomanry/desc_yc.htm WW2 links site - http://www.warlinks.com WW1 Army Medal Index Cards - http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/forrestdale/MIC.html World War I Genealogy Forum - http://genforum.genealogy.com/wwi/ Worcestershire Medal Service - http://www.worcmedals.com/ Western Front Association - http://www.wfa-usa.org/ Western Front Association - http://www.westernfront.co.uk/ WAAF site - http://www.cpa.ed.ac.uk/bulletin/1996-1997/10/news/11.html R A F site - http://freespace.virgin.net/frank.haslam/ MOD - Ministry of defence - http://www.mod.uk/forces/records/rm.htm Military uniforms - http://militaryhistory.about.com/homework/militaryhistory/msubmenuuniforms.htm Military Images' web site - http://www.capefam.freeserve.co.uk/militaryimages.htm Military books online - http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/ Military - http://www.warlinks.com Mailing list Army - http://www.egroups.com/group/britregiments/info.html Land forces of Brit commonwealth - http://regiments.org/ Iain Kerr's Home Page - http://home.clara.net/iainkerr/index.htm German WW1 dead - http://www.volksbund.de Forgotten Soldiers Page - http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/9460/ FORCES who Died in World War I or WW2 - http://yard.ccta.gov.uk/cwgc/register.nsf/ FIRST WORLD WAR STORIES PAGES - http://www.zen.co.uk/home/page/tony-j/ww1/index2.htm Decorated in WW2 Medals - http://www.pro.gov.uk/ British Regiments List - http://www.egroups.com/group/britregiments British forces history - http://www.british-forces.com/ British Army War Medals WW1 - http://raven.cc.ukans.edu/~kansite/ww_one/medals/britmedl/britain.html BRITISH ARMY BADGES - http://www.egframes.co.uk/indexbadge.htm British Army 1702 - 1995 - http://www.du.edu/~tomills/military/uk/bargxref.htm Bomber Command site - http://www.nucleus.com/~ltwright/home.htm Boer War site - http://www.lineages.com/military/mil_boer2.asp - http://www.uq.net.au/~zzrwotto/index.html Belgian War Graves WW1 13K names - http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Camp/4403/ 325th Glider infantry Regt - http://www.bragg.army.mil/AFVC-B/glider.htm - http://www.exroyalsignals.co.uk - http://www.royalsignals.army.org.uk/museum/ Royal Guernsey Militia - http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/cf_baker/guernsey.htm New Zealand Armed Forces Memorial Project - http://www.nullus-anxietas.com/nzafmp/ - http://www.capefam.freeserve.co.uk/militaryimages.htm Maple Leaf Legacy Project-Canadian War Graves - http://www.mllp.demon.co.uk/ Top
1st and 2nd World Wars Debt of Honor Register http://yard.ccta.gov.uk/cwgc/register.nsf World War One Diary entries of John Charles Waters http://www.digiserve.com/peter/kcb/waters1.htm placed online by his relative Alan Holden Heraldry & Genealogy - Birmingham and Midland Society (BMSGH) for their web site http://www.bmsgh.org with masses of data on the region, good links and on-line catalogues of saleable items. Australian Searches - set up by the State Gov. for families to submit the first member of their family to come to Australia and any descendents thereafter. It is well worth a look at FIRST FAMILIES 2001 <http://www.firstfamilies2001.net.au> Also :- CLAIM A CONVICT at <http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/convicts> BIRTHS,DEATHS AND MARRIAGES VICTORIA <http://www.justice.vic.gov.au/dojsite.nsf/all+by+key?BirthsDeathsAndMArriagesHome?opendocument> NSW REGISTRY OF BIRTHS, DEATHS, & MARRIAGES <http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/Services/IndexSrch.html> THE AUSTRALASIAN REG OF BDM <http://www.ke.com.au/bdmaus/index.html> AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL <http:www.awm.gov.au> Top
Cyndi's List - Over 41,700 Genealogy links in over 100 categories! http://www.CyndisList.com Calendar conversions - For all calendar needs be it reignal or old-style try http://www.albion.edu/english/calendar David Pott Dates difficulties in the change of calendar Julian to Gergorian Calendar 1751 only ran from the 25th March to 31st December. 1752 started on the 1 st January and ran to the 31 st of December, and was the first year that ran from 1st January to 31st December(in England, that is)., but lost the 11 days, jumping from 2 nd September to the 14 th September. Which incidentally caused several riots because some people thought the government were stealing 11 days of their lives. With regard to the start of the financial year as the 5 April. This confusion is something to do with the way we add up. If you think about adding 11 days to the 2 September you arrive at the 13 September, not the 14 September. However it was 11 full days starting on the 3 September. Similarly the end of the old financial year was the 24 March and the extra 11 full days would be March 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, April 1, 2, 3, 4. Therefore the start of the new financial year would be the 5. April. Money Old - ,and the conversion rates at 1971 = old money = new money
Christenings / Baptisms and other PR problems 1 Most people in England & Wales, excluding those of other denominations to Anglican / C of E, did have their children christened - but *not* everyone. There were always some non-religious / averred atheists who didn't believe in it; whilst they may have been relatively few up to the end of the 1700s I suspect there were a lot more by the end of the 1800s. 2 Up to about the end of the 18th century the church wanted all children to be baptised by the second Sunday (workers' only day off) after birth. Most people do seem to have conformed as the church was all-powerful. In the19thC, especially after central registration started in July 1837, the influence lessened. Churches were used less often and many only had a service once a month, in rotation with nearby churches. So, for example, you get instances where all baptisms for a particular family are dated late 20-something of the month. The upshot of this is that most children were baptised within a month or so of birth. However, as many seasoned family historians know - and sometimes we first learned this the hard way, ie having made assumptions about parentage that later proved erroneous, some children were not baptised till they were (sometimes a lot) older and some not till they were adults. I have some examples of Lickfolds, especially in London, where 2 or 3 siblings (in one case the oldest was age 7) were all baptised together. 3 People did not necessarily have their children baptised at the parish church of the parish in which they lived. If they lived near the parish boundary they sometimes preferred to go to their nearest church, which was the parish church of an adjacent parish. If they lived in a large town, finding where they had their offspring "done" can be a nightmare (!) 4 Quite often a couple's first child was baptised at the mother's parish, especially when she had moved away and her parents and extended family were still living there. Later children were also sometimes baptised there when visiting maternal grandparents, especially when the parents didn't actually care themselves if the children were done or not. Julie has seen quite a few batches done on Christmas Day for non-resident children. 5 Parish Clerks were only human and made mistakes of numerous kinds. Many stem from the fact that, often, entries in baptism registers were not made on the day but from notes or memory at a later date. Marriage entries were often (illegally) partly entered before the event and not checked by the participants when they signed at the ceremony. Most of the experts among us should be conversant with all this. However, especially for our non-English cousins, I hope you have gleaned some useful background. Gordon Lickfold - Henfield, West Sussex Pre 1550...Many Manor records have been lost or are still in private hands and unpublished... the local chief archivist will be your best bet to try and find out what exists and where it is. David Pott Manorial records are quite a good way to go and some have been filmed by the Mormons, so are available to view, this also applies to Land Deeds and transactions. Tudor and Stuart Muster Rolls are another avenue to explore and again you will find many have been filmed by the Mormons. I suggest that you visit your nearest LDS family history centre and have a look at the Locality Catalogue for the place you are interested in and see what has been filmed (this can also be done online through the Family Search site). You may also need to view general records for the county. Some Quarter Sessions records go back into the 1500s also, but are more often to be found starting in the 1600s. The Mormon genealogy website is at http://www.familysearch.org/ Anne Major
one cannot marry their : -
David
Pott
From 1753 until 1929 the legal ages were 12 for girls and 14 for boys. In 1929 it was changed to 16 for both. Marriage below 21 ( eighteen since 1969), should have to have consent of parents or guardian recorded. David Pott
After 1823 they could be buried in an "unconsecrated part of god's acre". Before that they were buried in the public highway, often at crossroads,with a stake through the heart. If the family was wealthy it is possible that the body was buried in the graveyard regardless of the coroner's verdict. It is also possible the the body was buried before the coroner's verdict, (Coroners verdicts were made in days pre 1900). David Pott Victorian Diet - The consequences of poverty are most apparent in the diets of the poor.It takes a considerable leap of the imagination to recapture the Victorian working-class http://landow.stg.brown.edu/victorian/health/health9.html diet, for we have preconceived notions of the 'good old days' before the onslaught of pre-packaged, processed, artificially coloured, 'convenience' foods, and we have, perhaps, an image of John Bull, contentedly overweight from all the benefits of free trade and the beef and ale diet which distinguished the English from unfortunate foreigners. But to enter the world of the Victorian working man's diet is to enter the world of the savage--it was uncertain in supply, primitive in content, and unhealthy in effect. Few of the poor had ovens and had to rely either on open-fire pan cooking, buy their hot food out, or make do with cold meals. Even at the turn of the century social workers entering the homes of the poor to teach wives how to cook were aghast to disco! ver that the family possessed only one pot, and that before their lesson in economy stews and soups could begin the pot would have to be cleaned of the baby's bath water, or worse. As late as 1904 an official committee of inquiry was distressed to learn how few of the poor had sufficient utensils and appliances to cook at home. Primitive or non-existent cooking facilities, lack of cheap fuel, poverty, ignorance, and adulterated foods combined to produce a nation, not of John Bulls but, by today's standards, of pygmies, who were undernourished, anaemic, feeble and literally rickety.. . Esther Copley's Cottage Cookery (1849) suggests the poverty of the rural diet, for her recipes were for potato pie, stirabout, stewed ox-cheek, and mutton chitterlings. In Wiltshire, admittedly one of the poorer counties, the Poor Law Commission found that the standard fare consisted of bread, butter, potatoes, beer, and tea, with some bacon for those earning higher wages. . . .If the rural poor ate birds then the urban poor ate pairings of tripe, slink (prematurely born calves), or broxy (diseased sheep). Edgar Wallace recollects working-class families along the Old Kent Road shopping for 'tainted' pieces of meat and 'those odds and ends of meat, the by-products of the butchering business.' Sheep's heads at 3d each and American bacon at between 4d and 6d a pound (half the price of the native product) were too expensive for the irregularly-employed casual labourer to have frequently. In Macclesfield 23 per cent of the silk workers and in Coventry 17 per cent of the labo! urers had never tasted meat. Stocking weavers, shoe makers, needle women and silk weavers ate less than one pound of meat a week and less than eight ounces of fats. . . .was not until the last quarter of the century that the working man's diet improved significantly. Between 1877 and 1889 the cost of the average national weekly food basket of butter, bread, tea, milk and meat fell by some 30 per cent, and it was in this period that the first really appreciable nutritional improvement (aided by a greater variety of foods and new methods of retailing), occurred. The cheaper food products which came in with the refrigerator- and then freezer-ships, the development of inexpensive margarine, the fall in price of most consumer items, all served to increase both the variety and quantity of the workmen's diet in this period (48-49, 50-51).
The Napoleonic wars ended in 1815 which had meant a boom period for British farming. Corn laws were introduced in 1815 putting a very high duty on imported grain in an effort to boost domestic farming. This while helping the farmers turn a profit meant great difficulties for the average family as they could no longer afford to buy bread. It is a myth that it was all home-made bread then, you can't bake bread over an open fire and farm labourers wouldn't be able to afford to buy an oven. Farm wages fell to an all time low in the 1820's and most of the population lived at starvation level. Commoners rights as well as the common land itself hand slowly been whittled away over the previous 100 years. So where once the ag lab could grow his own food, collect firewood and graze pigs and be somewhat self-sufficient it was no longer the case. Poaching in what had once been pubic woodland became common, just to put some food on the table. To make matters worse threshing machines were slowly being introduced, these machines took the winter work away from the farm labourers. I have seen different figures on this, but each machine took away the work of 10 to 15 men. In the parish of Waltham (south of Canterbury) I can count at least 7 old farms, so this small parish would have 70 to 105 unemployed men in the winter. If we guess at an average of 4 per each unemployed man (some of these would be single men, some family men and some the grandfathers just supporting their wives) give a total of somewhere in the region of 280 to 420 people that had to be supported by the parish during the winter months! This figure must be somewhere near right as on the night of Sunday 29th August 1830 some 400 men from Elham and surrounding parishes, destroyed a threshing machine in Lower Hardres.Within three weeks about 100 machines had been broken in east Kent! Since the 1500's it was the parish that looked after it's poor from money collected in tithes from the landowners which appears to been able to cope up until this period....paying for families to emigrate was one option for the parish to rid itself of the problem of looking after it's unemployed. The Poor Law Amendment of 1834 tried to stop poor relief for people who refused to enter the Workhouse (where families were forced to live apart). The late 1830's saw bad harvests and potato blight (the potato blight spread to Ireland later) making a bad situation worse. The knock on effect must have hit whole villages,if the farmers had no money to spend the other trades people would have less money in their pockets etc. and the plight of the poor ??? Something I read recently ...in Victorian society there was a belief that poverty was an inherited disease!!!! With that in mind it is easy to understand why people were transported for petty crimes and the Workhouses and parishes assisted emigration. A personal thought...I think that most of them would have beyond the point that they still had any dreams or hope, and any route out of the living hell they must have been in would be welcome. Something that needs looking into, is the sudden rise in nonconformist chapels that sprang up in this period, I was taught in school that this was mainly in the young expanding towns, but a detailed look at the maps on www.old-maps.uk show chapels in many small rural villages. The increase in popularity of these new churches appears to increase as the plight of the poor became worse. The following is quoted from EAST AND WEST LONDON By the Rev. Harry Jones. Published by Smith, Elder &Co., 1875 ".......The emigrants are fed and taken to New Zealand free of charge, excepting £1 each for 'bedding-money' for those over twelve, and 10s. each for those under that age. I was struck with the air of confidence displayed by most. They were leaving the old country with less regret than I liked to see, though some of the elders looked sad. The majority were labourers. The officials told me that on the arrival of the ship at its destination they were for some time lodged in a depot free of expense,but that they were generally engaged at once, or soon fetched away by friends..................This at Blackwall is a point of embarkation for New Zealand alone, and has seen the departure of seventeen thousand emigrants from May 11th, 1874, to August 7th in this year, which gives an average of more than a thousand a month." David Pott
There is a list [email protected] This list covers all Unions, Hospitals, Institutions. English geography http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/6302/coat.html For anyone who isn't familiar with English geography, the first thing I'd suggest is stopping by a local Family History Center and ask for the one-page British Isles map, which shows the shire and national political boundaries of the islands before 1947. Details of libraries and historical recourses.Try http://www.earl.org.uk/familia/main.html Look up the name of a town or parish Genuki's online site to look up the name of a town or parish. While you might "get lucky" with a posting to the Kent list, if you knew where Bugbrook was located (and England is repleat, unfortunately, with towns with similar names), you could target your request more specifically. Genuki is at: http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/ Also check "A Dictionary of English Place Names" by A. D. Mill. Photographs of old England - it boasts that it has old photographs of over 7,000 towns in England! The photos are online (not very large) but there is an ordering page if required. The photos are from 1860 onwards. There's http://www.francisfrith.com/ and http://www.francisfrith.co.uk/main.htm Katherine Luck Photographs of Sussex: website -Web-site at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~penuel/index.htm Penuel Ellis-Brown <[email protected]> Photographs of Sussex website The beginnings of the website are finally ready to be viewed (I think!!). This is an ongoing project, so if your requested town/church is not there yet, I'll try and get to it soon! http://www.vidavision.com/education/ssxchurches/ Hope you enjoy it! Katherine Luck Sussex Archaeological Society - For anyone interested in the history of Sussex, there is a wonderful resource now provided by the Sussex Archaeological Society - the Sussex Historians on-line bibliography, which gives detailed information on books, articles and theses written on Sussex. It provides a list of topics and covers general histories as well as books and articles on specific places or subjects, so it is well worth a look. The address is http://www.sussexpast.co.uk Sheppey For information on http://freespace.virgin.net/colin.penney/index.htm lots of Sheppey pictures and leads here also info on Sheerness
Church locations with photos at http://www.findachurch.co.uk/contents.html Church Photographs on this site
Pubs, Inns and Taverns Index, which covers all of the UK from 1801 to 1900. http://www.pubsindex.freeserve.co.uk School Photographs Website - is now up and running and can be found at http://www.schoolphotos.f2s.com
Kent Geneological Data Bases http://users.iclway.co.uk/barrywhite/ Kent web resources collected by Maureen Rawson http://home.thezone.net/~mrawson/ Medway Archives site at http://cityark.medway.gov.uk/ Deal Museum has an 'e-group'at http://www.egroups.com/group/Friends_of_Deal_Museum Kent Family History Society web page at:- http://www.canterhill.co.uk/kfhs/index.htm British Vital Records Index -BVRI is a set of CD-Roms published by the Latter Day Saints Church. There is a summary of the contents of these CDs and other CD products (inc1881 census) on the Latter Day Saints UK site at: http://www.lds.org.uk/genealogy/software.htm This gives details on how to order the CDs in the UK. There is also information on how to order in North America. In brief, the BVRI contains extracts mostly from Bishop's
Transcripts in certain parishes and supplements the
information already available in the IGI. The coverage
varies from county to county. British Aerial Views http://www.getmapping.com lets you enter a UK postcode, road name and town and gets you an aerial picture of an area, and sometimes links to Doomsday Book info. about the area. Sussex is covered quite well. Resources For Kent Genealogists http://www.digiserve.com/peter/ Web site built by a cousin Peter Blanche Genealogy sources for Kent, England: http://home.thezone.net/~mrawson/ this is an extremely useful site, with a range of helpful links. Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild http://istg.rootsweb.com/
BURIAL IN WOOLLEN Shrouds Because, even as late as Stuart times, wool-producing was England's staple industry but export outlets were much reduced because of war with France, the government of the day determined to enhance the domestic market for wool. In those days, corpses were carried to the churchyard in wooden coffins, but were there removed and buried only in a cloth shroud. Burial in woollen was enforced by an Act [18 and 19 Car. II, c.41 of 1666 which was succeeded by an Act [30 Car. II, c.3] in 1678, itself amended in certain particulars by an Act [32 Car. II, c.1] in 1680. The 1678 Act provided that:- no corpse of any person (except those who shall die of the plague) shall be buried in any shift, sheet, shroud or anything whatsoever made or mingled with flax, hemp, silk, hair, gold or silver. or in any stuff or thing, other than what is made of sheep's wool only. The Act further provided that within eight days of the funeral an affidavit was to be made that the law had been complied with, and a penalty of £5 for non-compliance was levied not only on the estate of the person buried, but on the householder in whose house he died, on those concerned with the funeral, on the Minister who neglected to certify that he had not received the affidavit, and on the parish overseers who neglected to levy the penalty. In some parishes' a special volume for burials in woollen was opened: in some a printed certificate was used; but probably the majority contented themselves with recording the fact in the ordinary burial register. The Act was not repealed until an Act of 1814 [54 Geo. III. c.108], but its observance had fallen into general desuetude for many years previously. Blackstone, the eminent legal authority, commented that:
"The burying of so much useful woollen in every year does
not seem likely much to advance the universal good of the
nation". source - B. A. White Gentleman. The Dictionary of Genealogy. Per the Dictionary of Genealogy, Gentleman. In the Middle Ages the word 'gentil' meant 'noble', but 'gentleman' came into use in the fifteenth century to signify a condition between baron and yoeman, or sometimes between a knight and yoeman, after a statute of 1412 had laid down that in certain legal documents the 'estate, degree or mystery' of the defendent must be stated. In 1429 the term les gentils was used in an Act of Parliament, of men having freehold property worth 40 shillings per year or more. From the Sixteenth centry a gentleman did not work with his hands so his household included personal servants. Members of the Professions. ie: army and navel officers barristers were regarded as gentleman. When a man during his working life was designated by his occupation ( for example Tailor) retired he would often then describe himself as "Gentleman" as he was no longer gainfully employed. Legal Age for Marriage "Before Hardwickes Marriage act of 1753 there was no legal age of marriage, except during the 1650's when it was sixteen for `men' and fourteen for women'. In 1753 it was fixed at fourteen for men and twelve for women, and remained at those ages until the Age of Marriage Act in 1929, which raised the age to sixteen for both." from the Family Tree Detective by Colin D. Rogers . Manchester University Press Marriage below 21 ( eighteen since 1969), should have to have consent of parents or guardian recorded. David Pott Nicknames explained http://www.usgenweb.org/researchers/nicknames.html England Family Records Centre, 1 Myddleton Street, Islington, London EC1R 1UW Tel: 020 8392 5300 Scotland General Register Office, New Register House, 3 West Register Street, Edinburgh EH1 3YT Tel: 0131 334 0380 http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk Ireland National Archives, Bishop Street, Dublin 8, Republic of Ireland Tel: 003531 407 2300 http://www.nationalarchives.ie/ Directory to local Holdings http://www.earl.org.uk/familia/ Top
Family research centre Mormons - Glasgow Centre: 35 Julian Avenue, G12 0RB. Tel: 0041 357 1024
Blank British census forms http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/CensusR.html Military Web sites. http://www.medal.net/research.htm http://www.capefam.freeserve.co.uk/militaryimages.htm
SUSSEX-PLUS website can be found at http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/renfrew/sussex/sussex-plus.html Surrey History Centre - 130 Goldsworth Road, Woking, GU21 1ND [email protected] they have a good web site http://shs.surreycc.gov.uk Surrey parish registers are held mainly at the Surrey History Service (the County Archives) in Woking, Surrey. http://shs.surreycc.gov.uk/ There is a searchable online catalogue at this site. (London) districts Parish Records for the metropolitan (London) districts of Surrey are at the London Metropolitan Archives http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/archives/lma/ Kelly's Directory is a trade directory still published today which lists tradesmen by trade and if you are lucky individuals in alphabetical order and house in street order within location. Published annually by district. Paul "Further Steps in Family History" Guided by Eve McLaughlin, ISBN No. 1-85306-062-3 and is produced by Countryside Books, 3 Catherine Road, Newbery, Berkshire, UK. RRP is £7.95 It is I think based on the individual booklets published by the Federation of Family History Societies, so it is almost a précis of all the Guides. The Guide I have is called "Parish Registers - A McLaughlin Guide" and copies are obtainable from the author Eve McLaughlin, Varneys, Rudds Lane, Haddenham, Aylesbury, Bucks. Cost £1.50 plus 35p UK postage or £1 surface, £2.00 airmail. As far as your question as to what is recorded in Parish Registers, the booklet starts by saying "There was no rule about the precise form of wording. It was entirely up to the clergyman" I thoroughly enjoyed reading both the book and the Guide, and they give a lot of basic everyday information that as a beginner to researching my family tree I have found extremely helpful. Eve McLaughlin also does some other guides - which I haven't actually got but for those of you who are interested,(I presume as they are just guides, they would be the same price and postage as the "Parish Registers" Guide). I have copied the following from the back of the "Parish Registers" and the list is as follows : ST CATHERINES HOUSE - The GRO - the indexes and certification of birth, marriage and death, solving problems when "it isn't there", Scotland and Ireland SIMPLE LATIN FOR FAMILY HISTORIANS - Latin Christian names, relationships, occupations, words for birth, marriage and death; time and number, regnal years, reading a Latin will probate READING OLD HANDWRITING - Practical manual of writing as it was. Three full alphabets and detailed notes on troublesome letters. All "swags and flourishes" Elizabethan scribes and scribblers INTERVIEWING ELDERLY RELATIVES -How to start amassing family information. What you want to know. How to extract it. Sticky starts, questioning techniques. Methods of recording. Dating and checking results. THE CENSUSES - Use and interpretation. The 1841- 1881 (1991 from 1992)- what they are and what they contain. The Census Room at the PRO. Local copies. Examples and interpretation. SOMERSET HOUSE WILLS FROM 1858 - (Mainly England and Wales) Information in Indexes and Wills. Making an abstract. Intestacy. Administrations. Married Women Property Acts. WILLS BEFORE 1858 - Probate jurisdiction. Locating Wills. Technical terms and phrases. Intestacy. Inventories. Glossary. ANNALS OF THE POOR. Documenting the poor. Overseer's accounts, settlement certificates, removal orders, examinations. Quarter Sessions references. Historical background. ILLEGITIMACY. In Parish registers. Bastardy bonds, other parish church papers, Assize rolls. Checking family traditions. Victorian ideas. Tracing natural parents. FAMILY HISTORY FROM NEWSPAPERS - The earliest newspapers. The provincials. National and local collections. Hatch, match and despatch. Crimes and accidents. Advertisements. The poor. LAYING OUT A PEDIGREE. Basic rules of layout for drop line chart. Dealing with complicated cousin relationships. Simple layout for working. Styles for display or narrative. NO TIME FOR FAMILY HISTORY. How to work by correspondence, telephone, through printed books, use local libraries, what can be asked for, using odd hours and half days, weekend research, libraries, LDS Family history centres as local sources of 'London' information, planning a single day in London or Edinburgh, planning a one day research trip to a CRO MAKING THE MOST OF THE IGI - What it contains, surname groupings, pitfalls, value of scan searches. As I said when I started out, I haven't read any of the
above list, but they sound interesting. I don't know if Eve
McLaughlin takes credit card payments, but I will try and
find out if there is a phone, fax or email number you can
contact her on, and post it on the board in the next day or
two. Other members of the group may already have these
Guides and can advise you a little more. They may actually
be listed on the various Family History Society book lists,
and I know that they do take credit cards. Preserving old photographs and documents. http://lcweb.loc.gov/preserv/presfaq.html Protecting old photographs and documents Light - Do not have them on display unless they are behind UV glass (available from any good framer or glass shop). Do not have them in direct sunlight or under a spotlight. Keep them in a folder is best, so they are not often exposed to light. Photocopying takes years off the life of paper documents; try and do it just once and then use the photocopy as a master for further copies, or scan the document and keep the resulting file on disk, so that you can make copies from the file as often as you want. Acid - The biggest enemy; it causes paper to go yellow, ink to fade, paper to go brittle, etc. Acid is transferred from fingers, from the atmosphere, and from most things that paper comes into contact with. Some low quality paper even has high quantities of acid within it. It is a slow process; you can touch a piece of paper or a photograph and it might be 5 or 10 or even 50 years later that a perfect fingerprint is burnt into the paper or image. Do NOT use A4 plastic wallets; the plasticisers in them will eventually destroy the contents. Store them in acid-free plastic wallets and if possible in acid-free buffered card folders or boxes - these are a bit more expensive then the ordinary High Street stationery shop variety but are worth it in the long run (also the plastic is high-quality and hence optically perfect; you don't get that slight opaqueness and reflectiveness of ordinary wallets). They are easily available from a number of conservation supply mail-order companies (such as Conservation Resources) but I use a direct manufacturer, Secol of Thetford in Norfolk. Go to www.secol.co.uk and order on-line or order their catalogue. They produce a huge range of paper conservation products. Gloves - The use of linen or plastic gloves, when handling very old documents is advised, to prevent the acid from finger tips from damaging the original item, whether it is a photo or document. Ink pens - Most modern ink is acidic, so it is ill advised to make notes in ink on documents or on photographs. On older photographs with ink notes, it will seem as if the writer has leaned heavily when writng, this damage can be seen in photos as little as 10 - 15 years after the note was made. Eventually the ink will eat through documents and photos. Use a good quality pencil, the graphite "lead" in pencils is neutral. Though preferably notes should be made in note books with enough detail to identify the document or photograph. Photographs - pencil does not work on modern photographic paper very well, the best solution is to keep paper notes of the photos using key features to describe which photo you are describing :-
Scanning photographs - remember photos are prone to fading over time and scanning, exposes the print to a high intensity of light, equal to several years of daylight exposure. However once a photo has been scanned, create a gallery in your photo programme, or better still design a computer photo album and put your notes and information beside the photos. Build an off line web site, which is basically a photo & information album, allowing parents and family, to reflect on whether the information is correct and can add information and suggest new leads to follow. There are many web programmes which allow you to build the site, in the same way as you would design a simple newsletter, without any need to learn html code. These are often known by the acronym "WYSIWYG" programs, which means "what you see is what you get". There is also no requirement to put your web site on the internet, so long as the site has no off site links, it will work perfectly well on your computer in any of the common browsers. Mark & Stuart Hammond
Sussex Family History Group website can be found at http://www.sfhg.org.uk/ West Sussex Record Office in Chichester has a large photographic archive collection. You can contact them by E-mail at [email protected] Wandsworth Local History Collection Battersea Library, 265 Lavender Hill, London SW11 1JB Tel : 020 8871 7753 http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk 1851 Census for East Sussex has been indexed by C. June Barnes. There are 23 volumes, beginning at the very eastern end of East Sussex. She has a website: http://website.lineone.net/~barnsyard/ 1841 census is being transcribed by PBN Publications. However not very much has been done and mostly for the eastern part of East Sussex. They have a website: http://freespace.virgin.net/norma.w/index.htm
Census lookups - Achieving good results from Census lookup requests requires some knowledge of what is possible. The 1901 UK census is not yet available. It will be released in January 2002 and should be available on the internet. Consulting the index is expected to be free but you will have to pay to access the entries. Limited copies on fiche should be available at the FRC and local Record Offices. The 1891 census has very few indexes. Unless you have an exact street address it is totally unreasonable to expect anyone else to search a town for you without payment for their time and effort. Towns take days or weeks of concentrated searching without an address. Even requesting a lookup in a village is expecting a lot of a fellow researcher as even the simplest search takes a lot of organising and time. The 1891 census can be searched at LDS centres world-wide and at the Record Offices for individual counties. Main libraries often have copies of the census for their immediate area. Fiche of the 1891 census can be bought from the PRO or (at a 50% premium) from a commercial website. The 1881 census was fully indexed by members of local Family History Societies and is available from LDS on CDs at a very reasonable price. Many people have copies so for best results state the person's full name, expected age and county they were thought to be living in. For common surnames it's useful to state their probable birthplace and what town they may have lived in. The CDs are a useful tool but it's always best to check the actual entries as no index can ever be error free. The actual entries also give descriptions of each enumeration district and the names of the enumerators and the registrars. This information can often give you valuable clues. The 1871 and 1861 census have rarely been indexed. Search them at the same places and with the same restrictions as the 1891 census. I'm not aware of an easy way to buy them but believe it is possible. The 1851 census has often been indexed by Family History Society volunteers. Some counties have complete coverage but by no means all have been done. Indexes vary considerably in content, some are full transcripts but others may offer little more than a list of surnames with film and folio references. The actual entries should be consulted as before. The 1841 census offers less information than the later censuses so very few attempts have been made to index them. Search them at the same places and with the same restrictions as the 1891 census. Searching can be quicker than with the later censuses as there's less information to look at and the population was much less. Birthplaces are not stated, people were only asked if they were born in the county they were living in. Many people didn't know or lied as they thought they might be sent back where they came from. Ages were supposed to be rounded down to the nearest five years except for children under 15. These instructions weren't understood by all enumerators so you will find examples of actual ages, ages rounded up to the nearest five and occasionally rounding done to the nearest 10 years. Relationships weren't stated so it's easy to get confused. Occupations were only usually given for the head of the household so adult children's occupations often don't appear. The returns were often made in pencil so films may be difficult to read. It's still worth consulting them though, even if you must use other types of records to complete the picture. Censuses were taken in 1831, 1821, 1811 and 1801 but these have rarely survived and are of very limited value. The government was only seeking a population count but a few parishes asked a few extra questions. The most that is available usually consists of the name of the head of the household, possibly his occupation and the number of inhabitants of each house. Some of these have been transcribed by members of Family History Societies. Kent surnames interest page http://www.rootsweb.com/~engken/kentname.htm Working out Relationships - There is a great website for anyone trying to figure out how different people are related to you. It is called: First Cousin, Twice Removed? and is located at: http://www.genealogy.com/genealogy/16_cousn.html It explains everything in great detail, in easy to understand terms. Transportation - Generally a convict did not have his wife sent with him when he was transported to Australia. In some cases his wife was later also transported if she was also involved with the crime, but in general they did not come. If the men were transported for a period greater than 7 years they often considered this a 'break' to the marriage and some later married in the Colonies and had families as well. Few convicts who had served their time actually returned to England - they were not wanted there and unless they had made a fortune in some way in Australia they did not have the means to pay their return passage. Some wives were given funds through the Parish Relief and did come as assisted or sponsored immigrants some time later. Takes some time to hunt these ladies out but there are some records available for such cases. Elizabeth Rummins
Smuggling in the 18th/19th centuries http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/richard.platt/web/text/smug.htm for "Smugglers Britain" by Richard Platt.
Bygone Kent - Meresborough - A series of booklets brought out by Meresborough Books, 17~19 Station Road, Rainham Kent. ME8 7RS Tel: (01634) 371591 Occupations ABLE SEAMAN A seaman who reached a standard of skill above that of Ordinary Seaman. ACADEMIC A scholarly person, of a university, etc. ACADEMICIAN A member of an academy, especially of the Royal Academy of Arts. ACATER A person who supplied food provisions, e.g. a ships chandler. Orig. Fr. achateur, meaning buyer. ACCIPITRARY A falconer. ACCOMPTANT An accountant. ACCOUCHEUR A person, not always a qualified physician, who assisted women in child birth. ACCOUNTANT A person involved in maintenance and auditing of accounts and financial matters ACCOUTRE A supplier or maker of military clothing or equipment. ACCOUTREMENT MAKER A supplier or maker of military clothing or equipment. ACKERMAN See ACREMAN. ACREMAN A ploughman or oxherder. ACTUARY An expert in statistics, especially one who calculates insurance risks, a person who kept public accounts of business. ADMINISTRATOR An appointee of the court who settles the estate of a deceased who died without leaving a will, or where an executor is unwilling or unable to serve as executor. ADVENTURER A person who seeks adventures; a mercenary soldier; a commercial speculator; one who lives by his wits. ADVERTISEMENT CONVEYANCER A sandwich board man. ADVOCATE A Solicitor, a Lawyer, a person who acted as a prosecutor in a court of law in Scotland. ADVOCATE DEPUTE A Scottish law officer who could act as public prosecutor. ADVOWEE A person who possessed an Advowson, normally a nobleman, who had the right to present a clergyman to a benefice. AERONAUT A balloonist or a trapeze artist in the circus or music halls. AFFEEROR An official in the manorial courts who assessed the monetary penalty. They also collected taxes and dues and were also called Assessor. AG LAB see ARGICULTURAL LABOURER. AGENT A person who acted on behalf of a company or another person. AGISTER An official of the Royal Forest. In the New Forest, it is the title for the person in charge of the ponies. AGRICULTURAL LABOURER (Ag. Lab.) An unskilled worker on a farm. AGRICULTURIST A person involved with land cultivation or animal husbandry. ALABASTERER A person who worked with alabaster. ALBLASTERE A crossbow man. ALCHEMIST A medieval chemist who claimed to be able to turn base metals into gold. ALDERMAN A senior councillor one position down from Mayor in the local council. ALE CONNER see ALE FOUNDER. ALE DRAPER A seller of ale. ALE FOUNDER An official who tested quality and measure of ale served in public houses ALE TASTER A person who tested ale and beer for quality first recorded in 1377 in London. Appointed by the Manor and forerunner of the Inspector for Weights & Measures ALE TUNNER A worker employed by the brewery to fill ale casks (tuns} with ale. ALEWIFE A woman who keeps an alehouse or tavern. ALL SPICE A nickname for a grocer. ALMANAC MAN An official appointed by the Court of Sewers who warned the inhabitants of the Trent River area of higher than normal tides ALMONER [1] Distributor of charity to the needy. [2] The person in charge of an Almshouse. [3] The title of hospital managers until the 1970's. ALMSMAN A person who received alms or charity. ALNAGER An official who examined the quality of woollen goods and stamped them with the town seal of approval. AMANUENSIS A person who writes what another dictates (words or music) or copies manucripts; a secretary or stenographer. AMBER & JET CUTTER A person who cut and polished amber and jet for jewellery. AMBER CUTTER A person who cut ambergris. AMBLER An officer of the Royal Stable who broke in horses. AMEN MAN A parish clerk. ANCHOR SMITH A person who made anchors. ANCHORESS A female hermit or religious recluse. ANCHORITE A male hermit or religious recluse. ANGLE IRON SMITH A person who made angle iron i.e. flat iron bars bent at right angles lengthways. ANILEPMAN A smallholder (tenant of the manor). ANIMAL & BIRD PRESERVER A taxidermist. ANKLE BEATER A young person who helped to drive the cattle to market. ANNATTO MAKER A person who worked in the manufacture of dyes for paint or printing. ANNUITANT A person who received an annual income not from working e.g. pensioner. ANTIGROPELOS MAKER A person who made waterproof leggings. ANVIL SMITH A person who made anvils and hammers for blacksmiths. APIARIAN A beekeeper. APOTHEECARY A chemist, druggist, pharmacist. APPARITOR An official who summoned witnesses in the ecclesiastical courts. APPRAISER A person who appraised the value of goods i.e. a broker. APPRENTICE A person who was bound to a skilled worker for a specified time to learn a trade. APRONEER A slang term used in London for a shopkeeper. APRONMAN A mechanic. AQUARIUS (EWAR) A waterman. AQUAVITA SELLER A person who sold alcohol. ARBITER A person who judged disputes. ARCHER A person skilled in using a bow and arrow. ARCHIATOR A physician. ARCHIL MAKER A person who made a violet dye from lichens, used in the textile industry. ARCHIVIST A person who kept records of historical value. ARKWRIGHT A skilled craftsman who produced "arks" (wooden chests or coffers). ARMIGER Someone entitled to bear heraldic arms. A squire who carried the armour of a knight. ARMOURER A person who made suits of armour or plates of armour for buildings or ships etc. ARTIFICER [1] A contriver (q.v.) [2] An army or navy mechanic who does repairs to military equipment. ARTISAN A skilled tradesman. ARTIST IN FIREWORKS A person who prepared fireworks displays. ASHMAN A dustman. ASSAY MASTER The person who determined the amount of gold or silver to go in coins. ASSAYER A person who determined the proportions of metal in ore. AUGER MAKER A person who made the carpenters augers (used for boring holes in wood). AULNAGER See ALNAGER. AURIFABER A goldsmith. AVENATOR (PLANTIFENE) A hay and forage merchant. AVOWRY Another term for the lord of the manor. AXLE TREE MAKER or TURNER A person who made axles for coaches and wagons. Barrow boy - as in reference to a Barrow boy, is a mobile street stall often canopied from which all sorts of wares were sold. Also related terms Chapman, & Hawker. Beadle, bedell or bedel - as an officer of the parish who's duty it is to keep order. They could also be a town crier Blacksmith - worked with heavy metals like iron Chapman - a seller of goods round the doors Cordwainer - cordovan [kor'do-van], cordwain [kord'wan] n. goatskin leather, originally from Cordova (Cordoba) in Spain. -ns. cord'wainer, cord'iner a worker in cordovan or cordwain: a shoemaker; cordwainery. The term 'cordwainer' was originally restricted to those who worked in fine Spanish leather (Cordoba = cordovan), and not just in shoes. The early cordwainers dealt in luxury goods, and their customers were the nobility and the wealthy. Considered highly skilled craftsmen, they also made hats, furniture coverings, wall coverings, tack, light infantry 'armor', boxes, leggings, coats, belts, purses, and so forth. Some of the more industrially oriented cordwainers made wagon slings, buckets, pipes (to carry water), ropes, interwoven straps to serve as bed-springs, shoulder pads, quivers, horsecollars and the like. Farrier - worked with horses Hawker - a person who travelled from door to door selling items. Lapidarist - one skilled in precious stones Mercer - a trader usually in fancy goods such as cloth or worked items. This was a Guild Trade. Shipwright - A shipwright, built ships! He was a specialised carpenter, who built wooden boats, literaly laying the "bones" or "skeleton" of the ship. The term passed on to metal shipbuilders too, in fact eventually, anyone, who builds a boat or ship of any material. Stoner - was a lapidarist, or one skilled in precious stones. It is so recorded in use in 1440, but is shewn as obsolete. also
Tinker - A mender of kettles. pot & pans, (worker with tin), not necessary a traveler. but also could have worked in a factory. Whitesmith - worked with light metals such as tin
etc, whereas a blacksmith used heavy metals like iron.
Formerly, all trades were organised into Guilds or Companies, which controlled apprentices, journeymen and Mastermen in that trade. One established ones franchise (rights to vote) in the election of the City government by passing through apprenticeship and admission to the guild for that trade. The City of London has many Guild Companies, Watermen, Lightermen, Spicers, Grocers, Dyers, Gunmakers, Armourers and Braziers, Mercers and Drapers, and many more. The Guildhall is the place where these Guilds could come together, now the venue for The Lord Mayors Banquet among other things. The right to elect was purchased, and one became "Free" and in recent times only so many freemen could be created in any year. In the City, I believe, that it confers the right to elect the Aldermen. In the present day it is something that says that you have "arrived" and is much prized, but it does franchise you to vote in the City even though you do not live there. I hope that I have explained this sufficiently accurately, but perhaps some subscriber who is a Freeman will rectify any errors that I have made in this potted history. Charles Corner. Public Records Office On-line catalogue http://www.pro.gov.uk Click on 'Finding Aids' in the top right hand corner Click on 'Online Catalogue' Click on 'Search Catalogue' Enter just one surname (I initially entered three spelling variations and didn't find anything because the search engine was looking for a document with all three names in it - which of course it was highly unlikely to find) Click on the 'Search' button At this stage you will probably find that there is no 'Class description' for your surname (you should be so lucky) Therefore Click on 'Search Documents' Now, if you are lucky, you will find that this produces a summary of one or more documents for your surname which are stored at the PRO in Kew, Click on the first summary and either take notes or print off a copy. You can then move to the 'next document' by pressing the appropriate button at the bottom or go back to the 'Search' page to enter a new surname or spelling variation. Note : If you do the latter make sure that there is nothing in the 'Letter Code' or 'Class/Subclass' boxes otherwise you will restrict the next search to the area you last found a summary in. In recent weeks, I've been writing to various people, mainly in connection with lookups and advice that people have been asking on sources of information. It has struck me how few people know about the resources in the Public Record Office that are there to help you. In this note I hope to explain how you can access the database and search for snippets of info that might help to fill in some family details. If this doesn't appeal, don't read on................. The PRO is the central depository for national records, stored in London instead of at the local record offices. Records go back 1000 years and there is enormous potential for the genealogist. The PRO actually publishes many useful guides for genealogists. Since the old days of dust and paper slips at Chancery Lane, the new PRO at Kew is very accessible. An online catalogue now contains about 8.5 m records and is still growing. FINDING THE CATALOGUE The site is http://www.pro.gov.uk For the catalogue click the top right-hand icon 'Finding Aids'. Next go to the online catalogue, where there are 2 main options, browse catalogue and search catalogue. Browse cat. allows you to search the categories and find out what they contain. Search cat. allows you to search for documents. SEARCHING THE CATALOGUE The search screen is straightforward, but rather awkward. You have to use exact spellings to match the entry - it will not give you similar sounds, and you cannot use wildcard searches eg Northa* to search for Northampton, Northamptonshire and Northants. Similarly, you need to search for all possible spellings of a surname to be sure you cover everything. This can mean various permutations of names to get everything there is. The listings in the catalogue are only abstracts - often they do not give precise dates or places. To fill in the detail, you will need to go to Kew and study the original documents. This can be difficult if you're not used to it, and certainly time consuming. ADVANTAGES of the database are that its readily available online, possible to search, and very comprehensive. PRs only start in 1538 (at the earliest), yet these documents go back way earlier. DISADVANTAGES are that its not complete for all documents, not the easiest to search, and only summarised for content. However, the catalogue on its own can give you some ideas on people and distributions, as well as on particular events. From: [email protected] Registers of Birth, Marriage and Death - Civil registration commenced in England and Wales in 1837. One copy of the original registers are kept in the office of the Superintendent Registrar for the Registration District and each quarter a copy of this was sent to the General Register Office where the national index is created (most of this is now done weekly by computer). It is not possible for the public to view any of the films/fiches of the civil registration of births and deaths in England in Wales, but it is possible to order a copy of the entry. The current marriage registers kept by the parish church can be viewed and older ones if they have not been sent to the county record office (not usually on fiche), although this will not always be possible when the ceremony did not take place in the established (=parish) church. (Usually two registers are kept, one, when completed goes to the local register office and one is kept or goes to the local record office, this applies to C of E or non-conformist) Obtaining Copies (certificates) of the entries for birth/marr/death as follows: If you can get to London, you can order the certificate in person at the Family Records Centre at Myddelton Street. One useful method is to contact the local Superintendent Registrar for the district in which the event took place. They will do a five year search at no extra charge. This way the price is the same as at London, but you do have to be sure of your district (and parish for marriages). As far as I know they accept payment only in sterling cheques. Addresses of register offices can be found at http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/RegOffice/s.htm make cheques payable to 'The Superintendent Registrar' If you are overseas a practical proposition is to order direct from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), by post or by email - see http://www.ons.gov.uk/regist_f.htm This is slightly more expensive, particularly if a search is required, but cheaper if you count the travel costs! They accept payments using credit card - so this method may be useful if ordering from overseas. A cheaper alternative is to use a record agent - these advertise in most Family History Magazines. Which Certificate? By now you will be wondering how you identify the certificate that you require! You will need to find the indexes (called GRO indexes - general register office) which provide a means of identifying the correct entry in the civil registers of birth, marriage and death, so that certificates can be ordered. The registers themselves are not open for public searches in England and Wales. In brief, for each entry, the indexes list the volume and page numbers for the civil registers providing a unique identifier for ordering your certificate if ordering from the FRC or GRO - and (IMPORTANT) of no use to local registrars other than verification it is in their district somewhere! The registration and indexes start from July 1837 and extend to the present day. The hardcopy indexes are at the UK Family Records Centre http://www.pro.gov.uk/about/frc/ in London and are alphabetical lists by surname, then forename for all the events in each three-month period. The indexes are also available on microfiche at county record offices and the Latter Day Saints (LDS) family history centres. Also some Family History Societies have their own indexes, The LDS (Latter Day Saints) Family History Centres usually hold the UK GRO indexes on microfiche, and, though some are open evenings only, they are a very helpful source of family history data. The list of centres worldwide is linked from http://www.lds.org/en/2_How_Do_I_Begin/4_Where_is.html Certificate prices (as of Feb 2000) Family Records Centre - £6.50 per certificate Office of National Statistics - £8 (with reference) otherwise £11 From register offices (by post or in person) - £6.50 per certificate General info There is a description of the English civil registration system and indexes with much more information at http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/civreg/ also at http://www.pro.gov.uk/leaflets/ri2118.htm Summary - In summary, you need to search the GRO indexes at the LDS, then order from the UK using the methods given on the ONS website or through a local registrar. The ONS will do a search, but this is more costly and may not be feasible if your starting information is uncertain. Thanks to Wendy Archer, who provided large chunks of the
material above in a previous posting to the Surrey List.
Thanks also to Lynda Mudle-Small for additional
material Masters were chosen by the parish officers or by ballot. In some parishes the inhabitants simply took turns to take an apprentice. Masters could only refuse to take an apprentice on payment of a fine. The apprenticeship was paid for by the parish, unless the child's parent could afford to pay some of the fee to which the parish would make up the difference. Two Indentures were made out on one piece of paper, one above the other, and signed by the overseer, churchwarden, the master and two Justices of the Peace. The paper was then cut in half in such a way that when the two papers were fitted together they matched perfectly, and a forged indenture could not be used at a later date. One copy of the indenture was kept in the parish chest, the other was taken by the master and presented to the apprentice at the end of his apprenticeship. The indentures always gave the names of the apprentice, the master and the parish to which the apprentice belonged. Other information which may be found includes the names of the apprentice's parents, his age, the parish of residence, the occupation of the master, and the trade of calling that the apprentice was to learn. The latter may differ from the stated trade of the master" "Some apprentices served masters who lived in the same parish as themselves, others were apprenticed outside the parish and thus gained a settlement elsewhere. Relatives were often named, as the masters of pauper children. A second husband might take his wife's son by her first husband, as an apprentice, thus ensuring that the whole family could claim the same place of legal settlement." Ships List Website http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/swig/ TheShipsList Digest Archive http://www.cimorelli.com/ShipsList/digest TheShipsList Searchable Archives http://www.chignecto.net/TheShipsList Tony Cimorelli's Searchable Database of Ship Arrivals (Contains the complete Morton Allan Directory of Ship Arrivals) http://www.cimorelli.com/safe/shipmenu.htm Lou Alfano's Database of Ship Description's and Histories http://www.fortunecity.com/littleitaly/amalfi/13/ships.htm http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/3649/ships.html Solem, Swiggum & Austheim - Emigration from Norway - S&S http://www.museumsnett.no/mka/ssa/
National Archives and Records Administration - Genealogy Section http://www.nara.gov/genealogy/ Canadian Archives - Immigration Records http://www.archives.ca/exec/naweb.dll?fs&02020204&e&top&0  Top
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