In this year that commemorates the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, The National Archives has released another set of records from The Great War. The 'Appeals against First World War conscription' records have now gone online.
The records are the case files of over 8,000 men who were appealing against conscription into the army between 1916 to 1918. The men applied to local military tribunals for exemption and if they were unsuccessful could then appeal to the county appeal tribunal. This new set of records cover the Middlesex Appeal Tribunal only and are classed in file series MH47. More can be found at The National Archives website.
New records released by The National Archives- 'Conscription appeals'
As today, the 22 January, marks the date of the famous battles of Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift in the Zulu War, a gravestone has been discovered in a Liverpool cemetery of a veteran who fought in the famous rearguard action at Rorke's Drift.
In Ford Cemetry, Litherland, there is a distinctive Celtic cross monument dedicated to Thomas Burke, who died in 1925, aged 64. However, there is no mention of his military career in the Battle of Rorke’s Drift in the Anglo-Zulu War, in South Africa.
Private Thomas Burke served in B Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot, tasked with defending the mission station of Rorke's Drift. For this he was recipient of the South Africa Medal, with 1877-8-9 Clasp.
He also served in the Far East and was awarded the India General Service Medal with Burma 1885-87 Clasp. He reached the rank of sergeant and was discharged from the Army in 1897. There's more details on the discovery of this soldier who fought in one of the most iconic battles of Victorian times on the Liverpool Echo website.
TheGenealogist also has many of the British soldiers who fought in the Anglo-Zulu War in their Army Lists available online .
The gravestone of Private Thomas Burke has been found in a Liverpool cemetery
Congratulations to RootsMagic as they start 2014 with another award ! The software has won 'Best Genealogy Product of 2013' in the recently announced GeneAwards 2013. The judges remarked "RootsMagic continues to lead by example". There's more details at http://www.tamurajones.net/GeneAwards2013.xhtml If you're new to RootsMagic, in the UK you can find out more information here at the RootsMagic UK website
This Thursday, the 23rd January, sees a free talk from The National Archives entitled 'Your Country Needs You' looking at the recruitment posters of World War One, including the famous Lord Kitchener 'finger pointing poster'. The talk asks if this was the most successful recruitment poster or if there were other more effective recruitment messages and posters that worked to encourage thousands of Britons to join up.
This talk draws upon official records from The National Archives to provide alternative and surprising stories. The talk is being given by James Taylor, former curator of the National Maritime Museum who also writes and lectures on maritime and military art and design.
There's more information available from The National Archives website.
Talk on World War One recruitment posters and their effectiveness at The National Archives
The National Archives have appealed for volunteers to help tag First World War unit diaries as part of their new 'Operation War Diary' outsourcing partnership with the Imperial War Museum. Volunteers are needed to record people, places and activities from the diaries as part of this major project.
There are 1.5 million pages of war diaries from the British Army on the Western Front during WW1 which had been stored away in the archives. Volunteer help is needed to now reveal the stories of the men who fought in the Great War. If you have any spare time to assist you can sign up to the project here.
The end result should be a great resource for researchers and family historians alike.
WW1 war diaries offer us a window into life in the Great War
An interesting piece of news from the BBC reports on how scientists are investigating the murder of a man in Northampton in 1930. At the time, the man's badly-burned body was examined and samples taken during a post-mortem examination at a pub near the crime scene in the village of Hardingstone. The perpetrator was soon caught but the body was never identified.
Decades later, a woman was investigating her family ancestry when her grandmother revealed her long-held belief that her uncle was the man burned to death in a car.The uncle, William Thomas Briggs, left his home in London for a doctor's appointment in November 1930, but disappeared and was never seen again. "My family were convinced that William was the victim," said Samantha Hall, whose grandmother had confided in her.
The family were put in touch with the University of Leicester and the team that successfully identified King Richard III whose bones were found under a Leicester car park in 2012.
"The scientists were able to obtain a full single male mtDNA profile from the slide to compare to the family," a spokeswoman for the team said. The result is due to be revealed to Ms Hall shortly. There's more details available from the BBC website.
The latest competition run by TheGenealogist is currently available to enter on Facebook. It’s a ‘name the place’ competition and there’s a 100 free 12 issue subscriptions to ‘Discover Your Ancestors’, the online family history periodical up for grabs.
If you haven’t seen Discover Your Ancestors as yet, it’s a great new online family history magazine with plenty of useful articles and handy tips for the family historian.
If you’d like to have a go at winning one of the prizes, go to https://www.facebook.com/thegenealogist?ref=hl
According to the latest news from The National Archives website, a collection of Second World War RAF casualty records has now been released to view.
The records were produced by the Air Ministry's casualty branch following the loss of an aircraft or personnel. They include accident reports and correspondence with next of kin.
Known as the AIR 81 series, the first tranche contains 316 packs dating from the beginning of the war in September 1939 to May 1940. However, many of the files contain correspondence which runs into the 1950s and even the 1960s.
This first collection of records does include some notable RAF raids from the early years of World War 2, such as the raid on the Albert Canal Bridges in Belgium in May 1940 when five aircraft from RAF No 12 Squadron were lost and the first Victoria Crosses of the war were awarded.
There's more details at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/news/903.htm
New RAF casualty records released from the start of World War Two.
The latest news from the organisers at Who Do You Think You Are? Live is that due to work commitments, John Simpson has unfortunately had to cancel his scheduled appearance as a celebrity guest speaker and has been replaced by newsreader and TV personality, Natasha Kaplinsky, who appeared in the Who Do You Think You Are? series in 2007.
Whilst a disappointment at the withdrawal of John Simpson with his links to the flamboyant showman and early aircraft pioneer Samuel Cody, Natasha's family history story was just as fascinating and very tragic in parts. Natasha Kaplinsky will be celebrity guest speaker on Thursday 20th February at 10.15 and 11.15am at London Olympia.
Another celebrity appearing is former athlete and now sports commentator, Colin Jackson CBE. Colin appeared in a previous series of Who Do You Think You Are? with an international tale of family originating from Jamaica and Panama. Colin will be celebrity guest speaker on Saturday 22nd February. If you'd like more information, visit http://www.whodoyouthinkyouarelive.com
Natasha Kaplinsky to appear at Who Do You Think You Are? Live this year.
The first family history fair of the New Year is shortly upon us. The popular Bracknell Family History Fair is on Sunday 26th January at Bracknell Sport & Leisure Centre. Admission is £3 and doors open from 10am to 5pm. There is free parking available and a cafeteria for drinks and snacks.
The Bracknell Family History Fair has been voted Number 3 in the country by Your Family Tree Magazine and is widely regarded as a family history fair well worth attending. This year, the Society of Genealogists will be attending, there'll also be a military history advice desk, specialist groups and a number of family history societies present. S&N Genealogy Supplies and TheGenealogist will also be present, providing talks on family history research.
There's more information at http://www.familyhistoryfairs.org/dateloc.html#wirr
The popular Bracknell Family History Fair returns on Sunday 26th January
