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A Murder in the Rookeries see the Discover Your Ancestors Periodical

The latest online periodical from Discover Your Ancestors has been released and this month I have contributed an article about a terrible Victorian murder that took place in St Giles-in-the-Fields, London.

What had drawn me to this research was the scene of the crime – a big house in what was by this time a very poor area. Built for a Richard Dyott before 1665, the house had one been a large respectable dwelling of three stories. By the 1800s, however, it had descended the social scale and was now part of a private landlord’s portfolio of accommodation for the poor and where a bed could be rented for the night in exchange for 3d.

 

Image from The Illustrated London News October 16, 1858 retrieved from TheGenealogist Newspaper and Magazine records

 

I had not intended to write about the murder that took place there, and the records I found that could identify some of the characters in the trail of the accused. Initially I was fascinated by how an area where an ancestor lived can rise and fall in fortunes and was investigating this. Soon, though, the murder at Dyott’s House took over my attention!

 

 

 

The August edition of Discover Your Ancestors is available now and features the following:

Life and work at the beach: Jayne Shrimpton dips a toe into the history of bathing machines, changing tents and beach huts
Murder in the rookeries: Nick Thorne investigates a gruesome death in St Giles, London
Sniffing out the past: Ruth A Symes considers some olfactory routes into family history
Going for gold: The 19th century saw gold discovered in America and Canada – and people flocked from Britain to find their fortune in the goldfields. Nell Darby digs deeper
The two clairvoyants who failed to tell their own fortunes: An Edwardian trial used legislation from larceny to witchcraft to prosecute a husband and wife palm-reading team, writes Nell Darby
History in the details: Jayne Shrimpton on watches

 

https://discoveryourancestors.co.uk/

 

 

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Take a trip to a Family History Show such as the one at York

Queue at York Family History Fair

Next weekend on Saturday 23rd of June 2018 there is one of the largest gathering of family historians in England taking place at The Knavesmire Exhibition Centre, The Racecourse, York, YO23 1RX.

If you are in the area then I urge you to pop along between 10am and 4.30pm and see what you may learn. I’ve been a couple of times now and found that its not just aimed at people with Yorkshire ancestors – so it is worth a visit where ever your ancestors came from.

I am already checking my tickets and planning my trip as I love attending these events for all the useful information that you can pick up from the likes of the family history society stands, genealogical suppliers and from the talks in the lecture area.

 

Click here to pre-book your tickets for The Family History Show, York and buy one get one half price!  But do hurry, as pre-booking closes at the end of Wednesday 20th June!

With even more exhibitors attending this year, the York Family History Fair is probably the largest event of its kind in England with many family history societies and companies attending each year. There is also lots of local history from the York area too.

 

Facilities include:

  • Free Talks from Expert Speakers
  • Exhibitors from all over the UK
  • Free Parking
  • Cafe with refreshments available all day
  • Fully accessible with lifts and ramps throughout

The show is organised by Discover Your Ancestors Magazine and is sponsored by TheGenealogist and S&N Genealogy Supplies.

 

Saturday 23rd June 2018 – 10am to 4.30pm

The Knavesmire Exhibition Centre, The Racecourse, York, YO23 1EX

Admission: Adults £5.00, Children under 14 FREE

https://thefamilyhistoryshow.com/york/tickets/

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Newly released: ‘A Concise Briefing’ report for English & Welsh Parish Register research.

The Family History Researcher Academy (that is also run be me – Nick Thorne) has just put on sale a brand new Concise Briefing crib-sheet. While the new report is a stand alone product it also compliments the in-depth online English & Welsh family history course that has been available for several years from this website.

 

This Concise Briefing report concentrates on researching in the English and Welsh Parish Registers. It examines the Established Church records, Bishop’s Transcripts and more. Distilled into six pages of great information its aim is to help the researcher understand which resources to use and where to search for your ancestors in these English and Welsh records on and offline.

 

Learn about the County Record Offices and discover the websites that can help you to find your ancestors in Parish Registers – including those that are free-of-charge as well as others that make a commercial charge, or are subscription based.

 

This Concise Briefing also reveals:

  • The background to the English and Welsh Parish Registers.

  • Where to look for the records.

  • Whether you can find registers at the actual church.

  • What Extended registers are.

 

The report is reasonably priced in either US Dollars, Australian Dollars, Canadian Dollars, New Zealand Dollars or British Pounds. Read more at:

https://familyhistoryresearcher.com/fhrmembers/concise-briefing-parish-registers

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Meritorious Service Medals can be searched online

Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links.*

 

TheGenealogist has released the records of 29,000 individuals who were decorated with the Meritorious Service Medal (MSM). The roll of names for those who were awarded this British honour in the First World War have been released by TheGenealogist. Researchers can now look for holders of this medal up to 1920 from within their ever growing military records collection.

  • See a copy of the image of the Medal Card with the theatre of war where the medal was won
  • Details the name, rank, regiment and service number
  • Unique “SmartSearch” links to the comprehensive military records on TheGenealogist.co.uk
  • These new records cover British servicemen from The First World War

The medal was first awarded in 1845 to non-commissioned officers in the British Army who had a record of long service in the forces. Given originally for long service of at least 20 years to servicemen who were of irreproachable character and already held the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal of their service, the First World War saw it awarded to those who performed acts of non-combatant gallantry in the performance of their military duty. In the second case the bravery was not necessarily while the serviceman was on active service and may have been in the saving or attempted saving of the life of an officer or an enlisted soldier.

Family history researchers searching for ancestors who had been awarded the Meritorious Service Medal in the First World War will be able to find their forebears in this new addition to the military collection of records on TheGenealogist.

 

 

 

Read TheGenealogist’s article on a First World War NCO awarded his medal ‘For exceptionally good work’ operating night and day to keep the RFC’s aeroplanes at El Hammam flying:

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2018/finding-ancestors-awarded-the-meritorious-service-medal-768/

 

 

*Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links. This does not mean that you pay more just that I make a percentage on the sales from my links. The payments help me pay for the cost of running the site. You may like to read this explanation here:

http://paidforadvertising.co.uk/

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TheGenealogist adds more Colour Tithe Maps for Buckinghamshire online

 

 

Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links.

 I was asked to put together an article on Buckinghamshire Tithe Maps this week as TheGenealogist has added more Colour Tithe Maps from The National Archives to their National Tithe Records collection. With this release researchers can see the plots owned or occupied by ancestors that lived in this ‘home county’ at the time of the survey in the 19th century on colour plans.

 

Colour Tithe map of Buckingham 1847
Colour Tithe map of Buckingham 1847

 

The new data includes:

  • Over 40,000 Plots of Land covering the years from 1837 to 1855 with some much later plans of altered apportionments
  • Joining the apportionment record books and the previously published grey-scale maps

These tagged colour maps and their fully searchable tithe schedule records are from those held at The National Archives. The collection gives the family history researcher the ability to search by name and keyword (for example parish or county) to look for all levels of society from large estate owners to occupiers of tiny plots such as a cottage or a cowshed.

 

Why not read my article written for TheGenealogist: Buckinghamshires-colour-tithe-maps-online-

 

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Warwickshire Parish Records with images now released online by TheGenealogist

 

 

Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links.

The following is a Press Release from TheGenealogist at the end of which you will find a link to an article that I wrote for them about a murderous lord of the manor whose burial can be found in these new records.

 

TheGenealogist logo

 

TheGenealogist has added over 366,000 individuals to their Parish Records for Warwickshire to increase the coverage of this county in the heart of England.

Released in association with Warwickshire County Record Office this brings high quality transcripts as well as images to family historians researching for ancestors in this area.

With 366,260 individuals included in this Warwickshire release, these new records will help family historians to find their ancestors’ baptisms, marriages and burials, in fully searchable records that cover various parishes from this part of England. With records that reach back to the mid 16th century, this release allows family historians to find the names of ancestors in baptisms, marriages and burials.

These new records are available as part of the Diamond Subscription at TheGenealogist, bringing the total to 934,495 searchable individuals for the county of Warwickshire.

 

 

Read the article that I wrote for them that reveals the last resting place of a murderous lord of the manor:

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2018/warwickshire-parish-records-reveals-a-penitent-murderer-724/

 

Baddesley Clinton church. Photo: © 2015 Nick Thorne of https://www.familyhistoryresearcher.com
Baddesley Clinton church. Photo: © 2015 Nick Thorne
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TheGenealogist have added over 1.9 million individuals to their Sussex Parish Record Collection

Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links.

 

The latest release from TheGenealogist team this week:

TheGenealogist has added over 1.9 million individuals to its parish record collection covering the county of Sussex. Published In association with The Parish Record Transcription Society, this second release of records for the English county more than doubles the number of parish records available for the area.

Sussex scene from TheGenealogist Image Archive
Sussex scene from TheGenealogist Image Archive

TheGenealogist now has over 3 million individuals in the Sussex Parish Record Collection.

The new batch covers individual records of:

  • 1,278,413 Baptisms
  •   308,746 Marriages
  •   327,091 Burials

 

The Parish Record Transcription Society (PRTSoc) have worked with TheGenealogist and S&N to make their records available online. With a combined 3 million plus individuals from baptism, marriage and burial records now fully searchable it is easier than ever to discover ancestors from Sussex by turning to TheGenealogist’s parish records collection.

These records are published as a result of a major project undertaken by PRTSoc staff and dedicated volunteers to transcribe the parish registers of West Sussex with the aim of preserving them for generations to come. By working with TheGenealogist these are now also searchable by online researchers on TheGenealogist.

This release joins TheGenealogist’s Sussex collection including parish records to form a major resource for the county.

Read their article here:
https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2017/new-release-of-sussex-parish-records-reveals-709/

This release adds to the ever expanding collection of parish records on TheGenealogist.

 

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Major New Resource: The 1910 Lloyd George Domesday Records with annotated maps

Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links.

 

I’ve been very lucky to have had advance access to what promises to be a fantastic new resource for family historians.

My preview was granted so that I could write an article on The 1910 Lloyd George Domesday Survey which you can read here.

This week the initial tranche has been released, as you can see from the press anouncement that follows. 

 

TheGenealogist has released the first part of an exciting new record set, The Lloyd George Domesday Survey – a major new release that will find where an ancestor lived in 1910. This unique combination of maps and residential data, held by The National Archives and being digitised by TheGenealogist, can precisely locate your ancestor’s house on large scale (5 feet to the mile) hand annotated maps that plots the exact property.

Lloyd George Domesday
Geo Bone a Coroner’s Officer lived at 12 Kennett Road in 1910.
The area has now been redeveloped and the road name reused further north in a new realigned thoroughfare.

 

Researchers often can’t find where ancestors lived as road names changed over time, the Blitz saw areas bombed to destruction, developers changed sites out of all resemblance from what had stood there before and lanes and roads were extinguished to build estates and office blocks. All this means that searching for where an ancestor lived using a website linked to modern maps can be frustrating when they fail to pinpoint where the old properties had once been.

  • TheGenealogist’s new release will link individual properties to extremely detailed ordnance survey maps used in 1910
  • Locate an address found in a census or street directory down to a specific house
  • Fully searchable by name, county, parish and street.
  • The maps will zoom down to show the individual properties as they existed in 1910

 

IR91 Index book
IR91 Index Book © TheGenealogist © Crown copyright images reproduced courtesy of The National Archives, London, England

Complementing the maps on TheGenealogist are the accompanying books that will also provide researchers with basic information relative to the valuation of each property, including the valuation assessment number, map reference, owner, occupier, situation, description and extent.

This mammoth project begins with the first release of the IR91 Index with subsequent releases of the more detailed IR58 Field Books planned. There are over 94,500 Field Books, each having hundreds of pages to digitise with associated large scale IR121 annotated OS maps.

The initial release from TheGenealogist is for the City of London and Paddington maps with their index records. Future releases will expand out across the country with cross linked maps wherever they are available.

Find out more at: TheGenealogist.co.uk/1910Survey/

Mark Bayley, Head of Development at TheGenealogist says:

“With our English & Welsh Tithe Map collection, we’ve become known for our map based records and this new collection makes a fantastic later addition. The maps show an incredible amount of detail, allowing you to zoom right in on the hand annotated property. The records that go with these maps are just as detailed, allowing you to find out all manner of information about your ancestral home.”

The National Archives issued the following statement:

“The Lloyd George ‘Domesday Records’ form essentially a census of property for Edwardian England and Wales. The innovative linking of individually searchable property data with associated annotated Ordnance Survey maps will be of huge value to family and local historians alike.”

To find out more about these records, you can visit our informative record collection page at:  TheGenealogist.co.uk/1910Survey/

 

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Sunday 24 September 2017: The Family History Show – London

New Family History Show for the London area

 

This Sunday, 24th September 2017 sees the first Family History Show  – London and I am off to see what it is like!

The Family History Show - London at Sandown Park

Organised by Discover Your Ancestors Magazine (to whom I am a regular contributor of articles to) it should be great as they are the same people behind the ever successful event up in York. Based on the format of The Family History Show, York it is being held at Sandown Park Racecourse between 10 am and 4:30 and is very affordable to get in to. There is plenty of free parking on site with allocated disabled spaces as well.

Unfortunately for those coming by train, due to engineering work, Esher Train Station will be closed on the day of the show. Surbiton Train Station, however, is just a 15 minute taxi ride from Sandown Racecourse. Alternatively, the K3 bus from Surbiton Train Station will take you to Esher High Street, the race course is just a few minutes’ walk up the High Street.

 

I went to the York event back in June. Watch this video of this year’s York event to get a taster of what is to come down South!

 

Free Talks throughout the day

 

10:00 Show Opening with Caliban’s Dream, Medieval Musicians

11:00 Breaking Down Brick Walls In Your Family History Research Mark Bayley, Online Expert 
Resolve stumbling blocks in your family history research using innovative search strategies and unique record sets to find those missing relatives.

12:00 Tracing Your Military Ancestors Chris Baker, Military Expert & Professional Researcher 
Chris draws on his experience from researching thousands of soldiers to explore what can be found when looking for a military ancestor.

13:00 Breaking Down Brick Walls In Your Family History Research Mark Bayley, Online Expert

14:00 Tips & Tricks for Online Research Keith Gregson, Professional Researcher & Social Historian
Keith shares top tips & techniques for finding elusive ancestors, illustrated by some fascinating case studies.

15:00 Breaking Down Brick Walls In Your Family History Research Mark Bayley, Online Expert

 

Read more at: http://thefamilyhistoryshow.com/

York Family History Fair

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Half a million Criminal Records added to TheGenealogist’s Court & Criminal collection

 

 

Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links.

 

IPrison Hulk RecordsI have spent some fascinating hours this last week searching in a set of new British family history records before they got released. As part of my business relationship with TheGenealogist I write family history articles for them and so I was commissioned to put one together on the new criminal records that were joining those already on their site. This will be of interest to those of you searching for black sheep ancestors in your English family tree. To see what I found when let loose in the records follow the link to the article at the end of this post!

 

Here is the Press Release from the team at TheGenealogist (Disclosure: contains my affiliate links.)…

 

TheGenealogist has enlarged its Court & Criminal Records collection so that even more black sheep ancestors can now be searched for and found on its site. With a new release of records you can unearth all sorts of ancestors who came up against the law – whether they were a victim, acquitted, convicted of a minor offence or found guilty of a major crime such as murder.

These fully searchable records cover HO77 – The Home Office: Criminal Registers, England and Wales and ADM 6 – The Registers of Convicts in Prison Hulks Cumberland, Dolphin and Ganymede with indexes from The National Archives.

  • Uniquely this release allows you the ability to search for victims of the crime (Over 132,000)
  • Hunt for people using their name or alias, or look for an offence
  • See images of the pages from the books and registers that reveal even more fascinating information about the individual

As these records cover a vast range of transgressions we are able to find men and women who stole small items such as shirts, potatoes, boots etc. We can also discover people who had married bigamously, forged money, uttered a counterfeit half-crown, burgled, murdered or were accused of many more other crimes. One example of a number of unusual offences found in TheGenealogist’s new release, is that of Christian Crane, tried in February 1811 – ‘Being a person of evil fame and a reputed thief’ was adjudged to be ‘a rogue and vagabond’.

These records, joining those already available within TheGenealogist’s Court & Criminal collection, will reveal the sentence of the court handed out to our ancestors. Judgements can be seen to vary massively from a fine, a short imprisonment in Newgate, a public whipping, a longer spell inside, or the ultimate sanction of death.

Newgate Prison

Other ancestors were sentenced to be ‘transported beyond the seas’ and TheGenealogist already has many registers of convicts sent to Australia between 1787 and 1867. Joining them in this new release are the ADM 6 records for convicts who were waiting to begin their voyage to the penal colonies in Australia and were locked up on a number of Prison Hulks.

You can search for your lawless ancestor at www.thegenealogist.co.uk

Or see the article I wrote for them after I was able to do some research in the new records:
https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles

 

 

 

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