TheGenealogist has just released a new circa 1921 resource, covering 23 counties, with over one million records. These formpart of the Trade, Residential & Telephone record sets on TheGenealogist covering a period currently not served by a census.
The fully transcribed, searchable records released today will allow researchers to:
search on forename, surname and profession
search by street, town and county
look for a business name
discover your ancestors’ addresses
find professions listed
These 1921 directories cover the North, South, East and the West of England, the Channel Islands and as far up the country as Aberdeen. If you have ancestors who you are tracing in 1921, this new release from TheGenealogist adds a fantastic name rich resource to your family history research armoury.Searching for householders within these 23 newly released county directories returns a good number of names from that time, including many that are still famous today.For example, in these new records we can find Harry Gordon Selfridge, founder of Selfridge's department store; Jesse Boot, who was behind the chemist chain that still carries his name; Winnie-the-Pooh’s author A. A. Milne; J.M. Barrie, who created the characters of Peter Pan and Wendy; plus the celebrated economist, John Maynard Keynes. You can read more about finding them in the records in our featured article at: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2017/addressing-where-they-were-in-1921-571/The areas covered in this release include:
Aberdeen
Bath
Berkshire
Bradford and Surrounding Districts
Bristol and Suburberbs
Brixton and Clapham
Buckinghamshire
Cambridgeshire
Channel Islands
Cheshire
Cumberland
Dorset
Durham
Hessle
Hull
Lincolnshire
London
London County Suburbs
Middlesbrough
Norfolk
Northumberland
Oxfordshire
Somerset
Suffolk
Westmorland
Wiltshire
Worcestershire
Yorkshire
TheGenealogist says that they will be adding further counties in the coming months.
The BBC's much loved genealogy programme has returned to our screens with some fascinating new programmes for this season.
Split into two batches, the first half has started with some great stories from Charles Dance, Craig Revel Horwood, Clare Balding, Adil Ray, and Emma Willis to air next Thursday.
If you have missed the programmes they are available to watch on the BBC iPlayer for a short period of time.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007t575
TheGenealogist has expanded its UK Parish Records collection with the release of over 1,363,000 new records for Northumberland. These records make it easier to find your ancestors’ baptisms, marriages and burials in these fully searchable records that cover the ancient parishes of the northernmost county of England. Some of the records can take you as far back as 1560.In this release you can find the records of:903,314 individuals in Baptisms, 157,329 individuals in Marriages and 302,378 individuals in BurialsUse these records to find the names of ancestors, parents’ forenames (in the case of baptisms), father’s occupation (where given), abode or parish, parish that the event took place in, the date of the event, in the case of marriage records, the bride’s maiden name and the witnesses’ names.In these records you can find Grace Horsley Darling, the famous lighthouse keeper’s daughter who saved the crew from a shipwrecked paddle steamer. She was born on 24th November 1815, at her grandfather's cottage in Bamburgh in Northumberland and was baptised the following month. Grace was the daughter of William and Thomasine Darling who, when only a few weeks old, was taken to live in a small cottage attached to the lighthouse on Brownsman Island, one of the Farne Islands off the coast of Northumberland. Her father ran the lighthouse there and she is famed for participating in the rescue of survivors from the shipwrecked paddle steamer Forfarshire in 1838.It was carrying sixty two people when it foundered on the rocks, split in two, the survivors managed to clamber onto Big Harcar a rocky island and were spotted by Grace looking from an upstairs window. She and her father rowed out in a four man boat for a distance of about a mile and between them rescued the nine survivors.
This weekend is going to be great for family historians in the area of York!
One of the largest family history shows in the UK
With exhibitors coming from all over Britain and Ireland, this family history show is probably the largest event of its kind in England. Every year the fair is well attended by family history societies and companies plus there is lots of local history from the York area as well.
The organiser's website says: 'You don't have to have Yorkshire Ancestors to come to this fair - they can be from anywhere at all! Everyone is very welcome and there is lots to see. There is plenty of parking and refreshments are available all day. There are several lifts to take you to the upper levels, and the whole place is wheelchair friendly.Do you really know who you are? Come and find out - you may be surprised!'Yorkshire Family History Fair
Saturday 24th June 2017
10am to 4.30pm
The Knavesmire Exhibition Centre, The Racecourse, York, YO23 1EX
Admission: Adults £4.80, Children under 14 FREE
To get a great deal on tickets take a look at their website now:
http://yorkshirefamilyhistoryfair.com/index.php
TheGenealogist releases York Colour Tithe Maps and Yorkshire Directories.
Parish of St Cuthbert’s York tithe map
For example, if we wanted to find the plot where one William Gibb lived in the parish of St Cuthbert during 1845 we can do this by selecting Tithe & Landowner on TheGenealogist and then enter his name into the Master Search. In William’s case he was the occupier while his landlady was Ann Wilson and we can see from the description in the Apportionment book that he rented a house and gardens from her. The value is small and the Rector is only entitled to 6d tithe rent from the plot. This is in contrast to another example that we can find in the York tithes.
The Freemen of Micklegate Ward of the City of York appear as landowners and occupiers in the tithe records for the Parish of Middlethorpe
We are able to see an image of the apportionment book and this reveals in the description that the land is ‘Part of Knavesmire a stinted pasture’.
A 'stint' or 'gait' being a pasture that is limited to a certain number of animals. A person who has the right to graze their sheep or cattle on the stinted pasture may allow a fixed number of their livestock to feed there. Each grazier holds a certain number of stints and a formula will be in force that calculates the different value of each type of livestock. So one stint could equal one ewe with her lamb, while four stints may equal one horse.
The York Race Course at Knavesmire on a tithe map from 1838
Anyone visiting the racecourse, whether it is for the family history show or to watch the races, can’t help but notice the old Terry’s Chocolate Factory next door. This art deco style facility, which no longer manufactures chocolate, was built in 1926. The company has, however, a long and rich history connected to York and by searching within one of the twenty three Yorkshire Trade, Residential and Telephone directories that have also been released by TheGenealogist this month, we can find the listing for the company. If an ancestor had a business then the commerical listings in the directory can help us find where they may have worked. In the 1897 Kelly’s York Directory we can find Joseph Terry & Sons Limited, manufacturing confectioners and see that at that time they had factories at Clementhorpe and at St Helen’s Square in York. The later address being where the family business had started and Clementhorpe was the factory on the River Ouse that allowed them to better distribute their products and import the raw materials - this move allowed Terry’s to really take off as a confectioner. We can, likewise, find the competing company of H.J. Rowntree & Co. within the same directory. It shows us that Rowntree’s had their business premises at Haxley Road and Tanner’s Moat.
Directories can also be useful to find the addresses of residents, the railways that served the area and read about communications links to other towns. These may be of help to the family historian who has ‘lost’ an ancestor as they could suggest where a person may have travelled and can be a great compliment to a census record. In the case of a head of the household we may be able to find an address different from that recorded in the decennial census. This may help fill in the gaps of where a stray ancestor moved to between the census. It can also add to our understanding of the place where our ancestors lived.
Sir Joseph Terry had been the Lord Mayor of York and in the year of this directory, 1897, he is still listed as an alderman and a magistrate. Similarly, John Stephenson Rowntree had been a past Lord Mayor and he too was an alderman and magistrate in this year. The 1897 Kelly’s York Directory reveals that they both lived at Mount Villas on The Mount; from this we can work out that they were close neighbours in York. The racecourse is also listed in this publication as having an address of Knavesmire, The Mount and so in the same area of the city.
The 1897 Kelly's York Directory just released on TheGenealogist
TheGenealogist’s National Tithe Record Collection covers all counties of England and Wales and so can be used to find where your English and Welsh ancestors lived at the time that this great survey took place between 1837 and the mid 1850s. The Trade, Residential & Telephone directories also encompass the whole country and can be useful both as research tool and as a valuable insight into the lives of our ancestors. They are a useful resource for tracing ancestors, particularly if they had a distinctive trade and can be used as a census substitute for the years prior to 1841 or after 1911 and also to provide information on their whereabouts between census years.
To search for your ancestors using these and the enormous number of other records on TheGenealogist read more at https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk
The Discover Your Ancestors Online Periodical was launched in May 2013 and has been providing a terrific mix of family history stories, case studies, social history articles and research advice. This regular and affordable service is a must have for anyone starting out in family history research or for those with more experience but who have reached brick walls. The high quality monthly digital magazine is delivered to your own personalised online account every month as a beautifully designed 30+ page online magazine. This regular and affordable service is highly recommended for anyone who is beginning to research their family tree as well as for those researchers who have more experience but may have reached brick walls in tracing their ancestors.
Douglas Fairbanks Jr travelling with his mother and stepfather 11 June 1921Researching in the passenger lists of this 1920s period of sea travel throws up many other famous names of the times. The 25 year old Harry G. Selfridge Jr, son of the founder of the London department store Selfridges, is one. We can also find the war poet Siegfried L. Sassoon and from the top ranks of the British Army there is Field Marshal Haig and Lt General Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts. Turning to the world of politics we come across David Lloyd George, the Liberal politician who became the wartime Prime Minister. Here he is travelling with his wife, Dame Margaret and their daughter Megan who would herself go on to become the first female M.P. for a Welsh constituency. By using TheGenealogist’s unique SmartSearch feature we can identify the family members travelling together on a voyage by clicking on the family icon.On a voyage to Gibraltar in April 1927 we can find the 63 year old widow, Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst, the one time leader of the Suffragette movement. Without Mrs Pankhurst and her fellow suffragettes campaigning for the right for women to have the vote, then Megan Lloyd George would not have even been able to cast her ballot, let alone have had the right to stand for election to the House of Commons.
Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst London to Gibraltar 8th April 1927 on the P&O ship NalderaThere are numerous authors to be found in these records. In February 1926 Hilaire Belloc, who was one of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth century, made the short hop across the channel from Southampton to Cherbourg. The 55 year old was onboard the Orduna, a vessel of The Royal Mail Steam Packet company on its way to New York. Belloc gave his address as The Reform Club SW1, but for others the passenger lists can reveal the details of an ancestor’s home address before they travelled - information which can be very useful when there is no census to consult for the time period in question. For example, the entry for the 21 year old Noel Coward, travelling on the Southampton to New York run of Cunard’s Aquitania that left on the 4th June 1921 - Coward gave his address as 111 Ebury Street London. This was the premises that his parents ran as a lodging house and it was where he kept a room while he travelled abroad. It was also the address where he wrote The Vortex, his first notable successful play. His occupation on the passenger list for June 1921 was that of an Actor. In later transatlantic crossings, however, he is sometimes recorded as a Dramatist, an Author and as a Playwright.
Arthur Conan Doyle and family travelling on the Olympic to New York 28 March 1923Passenger lists are certainly fascinating documents that can reveal our ancestors overseas voyages and so help add detail to the stories of their lives. They can also be used to clarify where people have gone when we can’t find them in the records at home, as it is all levels of society that can be found in these records. This particular decade seems also to be very rich in the names of the famous as they departed from U.K. ports on their overseas travels.
See these and many more fascinating family history records at TheGenealogist.
It is very sad news to have come out of Immediate Media in the past day. They have announced that the annual Who Do You Think You Are? Live show will not return. This was one of the largest family history event that attracted thousands of family historians to browse the stands and attend the various talks each year.
Who Do You Think You Are? Live NEC Birmingham
After ten years, first at Olympia in London and then at the NEC in Birmingham for the last three of those years, the event that took place at the beginning of April this year was the last ever!
Who Do You Think You Are? Live was previously held at Olympia in London
The organisers say it was due to financial reasons that they are bowing out and so we must assume that the show, while popular with family historians of all abilities, just couldn't make them money.
I am sure that we shall all miss the event, but perhaps it was just too large a venue.
While it is sad that it has gone there are always other more manageable family history shows to visit, including those up an coming in Yorkshire and the London area being organised by Discover Your Ancestors Magazine and sponsored by TheGenealogist.
There will be FREE talks from a number of experts, to discover more see the talks page on their website: http://yorkshirefamilyhistoryfair.com/free-talks.php
Do you really know who you are? Come and find out – you may be surprised!
Register of Voters for the Borough of Wakefield 1837 on TheGenealogistThe records cover 35 different registers of people who were entitled to vote in Wakefield, West Yorkshire and other constituencies situated in Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Somerset and New Westminster in Canada. These have been added to our Poll and Electoral Roll collection covering millions of records.At the same time TheGenealogist continues to expand its vast Parish Record collections with the addition of 100,000 new individuals added for the County of Worcestershire and additionally the Registers of the Parish Church of Rochdale in Lancashire that covers the period between 1642 and 1700.Also being released at this time are some records that will take the researcher all the way back to ancient times! The Roll of Mayors of the Borough and Lord Mayors of the City of Leicester records the names of men holding that office from between the 10th year of the reign of King John in 1209 and all through history to 1935.
The first Mayor listed in the Roll of Mayors of the Borough and Lord Mayors of the City of LeicesterThe Worcestershire Parish Records were added through a partnership with Malvern FHS while the electoral records are taken from the official lists produced to record who was entitled to vote in the various parliamentary elections. To search these and many other records on TheGenealogist, go to: www.thegenealogist.co.uk
With exhibitors from all over the UK and Ireland, this is probably the largest event of its kind in England. Many family history societies and companies attend each year. There is lots of local history from the York area too.
You don't have to have Yorkshire Ancestors to come to this fair - they can be from anywhere at all! Everyone is very welcome and there is lots to see. There is plenty of parking and refreshments are available all day. There are several lifts to take you to the upper levels, and the whole place is wheelchair friendly.
There will be FREE talks from a number of experts, to discover more see the talks page on their website: http://yorkshirefamilyhistoryfair.com/free-talks.php
The Yorkshire Family History Fair is run by Discover Your Ancestors Magazine and sponsored by TheGenealogist
Do you really know who you are? Come and find out - you may be surprised!
Saturday 24th June 2017
10am to 4.30pm
The Knavesmire Exhibition Centre, The Racecourse, York, YO23 1EX
Admission: Adults £4.80, Children under 14 FREE
To get your tickets go to: http://yorkshirefamilyhistoryfair.com/
