London Lives

London Lives makes available, in a fully digitised and searchable form, a wide range of primary sources about eighteenth-century London, with a particular focus on plebeian Londoners. This resource includes over 240,000 manuscript and printed pages from eight London archives and is supplemented by fifteen datasets created by other projects. It provides access to historical records containing over 3.35 million name instances. Facilities are provided to allow users to link together records relating to the same individual, and to compile biographies of the best documented individuals. Every document display page includes a link to the relevant background page which provides information about that document type. The site also features historical background notes and a user wiki.

Memoire Des Hommes

Mémoire des hommes intends to provide the public with digitised documents and data from the archives and collections held by the Ministry of Defence of France.  France lost over 1.4 million men in WW1 and you can find a certificate for each man on the website.  Searches are done by name and the scans of the documents show where a man was from and when and where he died.  The Minister for Defence proposes that users of the site annotate the pages of certain useful digitised documents for genealogy and searching in local history.

Photo London

PhotoLondon is a database of 19th Century Photographers and Allied Trades in London: 1841-1901.  The site has compiled a database of approximately 9,000 biographical entries on photographic companies and the people who worked within the photographic industry in London during the 19th century.
Read about pioneering photographers such as Antoine Claudet, Camille Silvy and Oscar Rejlander and less well known figures such as Walston Caselton, and the sisters Marion, Jane and Anna Dixon.

Historic Irish Photographs

The National Library of Ireland has begun to put some of their historic photographs online via the Google Cultural Institute. The purpose of the initiative is to increase the exposure of these photographs to the general public. Currently, there are three online exhibits: Witness to War; Dubliners - The Photographs of JJ Clarke; Power and Privilege – The Big House in Ireland. The National Library of Ireland’s photographic collection consists of some 5.3 million images. It is expected the online collection, although currently small, will grow over time. Access is free.

Cymru 2014

The National Library of Wales has launched a new website called Cymru 1914 - The Welsh Experience of the First World War. The website is a collaborative effort developed in partnership with several universities and archives in Wales. It commemorates the impact the First World War had on Wales. The website contains a collection of newspapers, images, sound and archival material from the era. The collection of war posters is particularly interesting, as shown by the example below.  Access to the website is free.

Blaeu Atlas of Scotland

The Blaeu Atlas if the first atlas of Scotland, published in 1654.  It contains 49 engraved maps and 154 pages of descriptive text.  You can search the entire atlas or browse for respective maps or descriptions individually, with relevant sections for the north east, west and south of Scotland.  The atlas has been translated from Latin into English for the first time and is available through the National Library of Scotland.

Bletchley Park - Find Your Code Breakers

Bletchley Park was the home of Alan Turing and the Cypher School of code breakers in World War II.  The Bletchley Park Roll of Honour lists all those believed to have worked in signals intelligence during World War Two, at Bletchley Park and other locations.
The Bletchley Park Roll of Honour has been compiled from information in official sources, publications and provided by veterans, friends and families.
The Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) mission was to crack the Nazi codes and ciphers. The most famous of the cipher systems to be broken at Bletchley Park was the Enigma. There were also a large number of lower-level German systems to break as well as those of Hitler's allies.

National Archives UK

The National Archives has launched it new-look website after several months of public consultation and design.  Not only is there a new homepage layout but also a 'mega menu' which drops open to display all the main sections of the page for fast, efficient access.  The Archives hope that the new interface will offer a better experience for mobile users, who make up approximately 20% of the sites visitors.  Their many online collections can be browsed in a number of categories, including

• 20th Century Politics 
• Air Force 
• Army 
• Crime
• Looted Art
• Maps
• Marines
• Medals
• Merchant Navy
• Migration
• Navy
• Wills and Probate

The National Archives also boast a series of podcasts in which Researchers and historians from The National Archives and elsewhere offer expert guidance on researching family history and unlocking the multitude of sources available.

Dictionary of the Scots Language

The Dictionary of the Scots Language comprises electronic editions of the two major historical dictionaries of the Scots language: the 12-volume "Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue" and the 10-volume"Scottish National Dictionary". Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue contains information about Scots words in use from the twelfth to the end of the seventeenth centuries (Older Scots); and Scottish National Dictionary contains information about Scots words in use from 1700 to the 1970s (modern Scots). Together these 22 volumes provide a comprehensive history of Scots, and a New Supplement now (2005) brings the record of the language up to date. This comprehensive resource will help you decipher the old terminology on Scottish records and give up-to-date meanings.

Maxwell Ancestry of Scotland

Maxwell Ancestry had added two new collections to their website. The first collection is an index of paternity cases from the south of Scotland that went before the Sheriffs Court. These are typically cases where a woman gave birth to an illegitimate child and then had to pursue the father of the child through the court for maintenance payments. This is a rare collection that can help researchers overcome brick walls. The collection currently spans the years from 1831 to 1892 for the county of Roxburghshire and intermittently from 1830 to 1897 for the county of Dumfriesshire. Eventually, this collection will cover all of southern Scotland.
The second collection from Maxwell Ancestry is parish records not found on the Scotland’s People website. Specifically, these birth, marriage and death records were taken from Kirk Session material from the Church of Scotland and other Presbyterian churches. Maxwell Ancestry now has some 460,000 records across their various online indexes. There is no charge to search. There is a modest charge to order a full transcript.

Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight Family History Society has been steadily adding to their collection of free genealogy records. So far, there are some 256,000 birth records, 102,000 marriage records and 226,000 death records. The records span the years from 1837 to 2010. There is also a project in place to add all recent deaths since 2010. A typical record on the website will provide the full name, year and place plus additional information. Also included is a very handy link to apply to the island registrar for an official certificate of the record with all the pertinent details automatically completed on the form. Access to the database is free.

Doegen Records Web Project

An archive of spoken Irish has just gone online. Called the Doegen Records Web Project, it consists of sound recordings made from 1928 to 1931. A total of 136 speakers from 17 counties recorded 400 stories, songs, prayers, charms and parables. The archive can be searched by title, speaker, county and keyword. This website won’t help you find a specific ancestor, but it does provide great context. Access is free.

National Archives First World War

The National Archives has launched its new First World War portal as part of the 100th Anniversary commemorations.  The new portal makes it easy to access all the collections held by the National Archives from one convenient location. The Archives will be marking the centenary of the war with an extensive programme, spanning a five-year period from 2014 – 2019. With a rolling series of digitised record releases, online and on-site events and education resources being added to this portal as we move through the centenary period, the national Archives will open up their unique collection of First World War records as never before.  Some charges may apply to access some records.

Included are record collections of :

• Medals 
• RAF officers 
• Merchant Seamen 
• Army Nurses 
• Prisoners of War 
• Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve 
• Royal Naval Division
• Women’s Royal Air Force
• Women’s Royal Naval Service 
• Royal Naval Air Service

A Postcard from Egypt

My uncle, Ernie (Squib) Green, sent the original of this postcard to one of his sisters from Egypt during WW2.  He spent his time in the army mostly in Egypt and Syria, and was fortunate enough to return uninjured.  Ernie was second eldest of 10 children, and his older brother Frank and youngest brother Peter also served in the war. Another brother Les, worked on the land farming and so was part of essential services.  I have not seen another postcard like this and have wondered how and where he had it made.

Green family of Fordham, Essex

Pictured are 4 generations of the Green family of Fordham in Essex.  Left to right they are : Mary Ann Green (1830-1915), her son Walter P. Green, (1857-1942).  Seated on his right is his daughter Constance (1882-1957).  The baby is not named but I believe she is Constance's daughter Rachel and that the photo was taken around 1910.

National Library of Wales

The National Library of Wales has a significant selection of databases you can search from The National Library website.

•   Crime and Punishment - Index to the Gaol Files of the Court of Great Sessions in Wales, 1730-1830

•   Marriage bonds - Index of applicants for marriage licences 1616-1837

•    Schedules - Finding-aids containing detailed descriptions of the archives housed at The National Library of Wales (incomplete, but growing).  Archives and Manuscripts received before 1999 or Archives and Manuscripts received after 1999 

•    Manors - Manorial Documents Register. A guide to the manors and manorial records of Wales searchable through the National Archives website.

•     Basic Inventory - Descriptions of our acquisitions year by year since 1909, based on the appendixes of the Library's Annual Reports

•        Probate - A new index to the pre-1858 wills and administrations proved in Wales.

Clergymen of England

Was your ancestor a clergyman?  The Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540-1835 (CCEd), launched in 1999 and makes available and searchable the principal records of clerical careers from over 50 archives in England and Wales with the aim of providing coverage of as many clerical lives as possible from the Reformation to the mid-nineteenth century.
The CCEd’s major features include:

• Records relating to the major events of clerical careers – ordination, appointments as curates, rectors and lecturers
• Information about parishes, chapelries and the many secular institutions and persons with chaplains
• Information about patrons, many of them women
• Information about schools and schoolteachers
• Two search engines, one ‘Basic’ and the other ‘Advanced’, for investigating the records, as well as a Browse facility
• A website, containing a host of useful aids, such as descriptions and maps for dioceses, lists of bishops and parishes, a glossary of terms, and an Online Journal containing essays and ‘notes and queries’

Biographical Database of Australia

The Biographical Database of Australia (BDA) has been launched and it already contains some 500,000 records. According to the website, this first batch of records contain convict, muster, census, baptism, marriage and burial records from New South Wales (1788 to 1828) and for Norfolk Island & Tasmania (1802 to 1811). In the future, data will be added for all states and territories. BDA is a not-for-profit database that is the result of years of work by volunteer genealogists, historians and contractors.  The indexes can be searched for free but there is a fee to see the underlying records.

The death of Mr and Mrs Frost

I had always found it somewhat odd that this couple in my family tree appeared to have died on the same day until I stumbled across this newspaper article.

EXTRACT FROM THE IPSWICH JOURNAL January 17th 1745

"Last Tuesday Morning a very melancholy Accident happen'd at Freston, about three Miles from this Town. Mr. William Frost, a considerable farmer in that Parish, was standing with his Wife by his Kitchen Fire, with the door open; and seeing his Son (about 18 Years of Age) going out a Shooting, with a Fowling Piece in his Hand, call'd to him, and told him that that Gun had been laid by so long, that he was afraid the Lock was not in good order, and desired he would strike it down. The Son, who continued without the Room, but while he was talking to his Father, had unhappily turn'd the Muzzle of the Gun towards the Fire Place, having first looked into the Pan and found no powder in it, struck down the Cock as he was ordered; when to his very great Surprize, the Piece went off, and he saw both Father and Mother fall to the Ground, and expire almost instantly. A Nephew of the deceas'd Mr. Frost, and two Servants, were very near to the Fire, but received no Hurt. The nephew stood almost close to his Uncle, but was very happily reaching towards the Window, to get his Hat, the very Moment that this Misfortune happen'd. It is now apprehended, that one of the Servants had made use of the Gun without Leave, and laid it up with a Charge in it." 

I am still investigating the outcome of the incident.

Ancestry and FamilySearch

Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org have announced a joint agreement whereby they will work together to transcribe and put online an estimated 1 billion new genealogy records over the next five years. Ancestry is the world’s largest genealogy business and FamilySearch has the largest collection of free genealogy records in the world. This agreement is in addition to the joint project between the two to publish 140 million US wills and probate images and indexes over the next three years. Access to Ancestry.com is by subscription and can be searched free in Campaspe Regional Libraries at our public computers of using our free wifi. Access to FamilySearch.org is free.

Anguline Research Archives

Dedicated to making old and rare books available to family and local historians, the Anguline Research Archives catalogue now includes more than 600 titles, including the new Historic Still Birth Register and a free downloads section.  The collection spans all English Counties, Wales, Scotland and now Canada, and titles are browsable by area and category, which include directories, maps, military, parish registers, church and non-conformist history, schools and more.  Titles are in PDF format so they can be viewed on computer, tablet, e-reader and other viewers, and the majority of titles can be bought either on CD or a digital downloads.  

Will Calendars at PRONI

The Will Calendars at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland provides a fully searchable index to the will calendar entries for the three District Probate Registries of Armagh, Belfast and Londonderry, with the facility to view the entire will calendar entry for each successful search.  The database covers the period 1858-1919 and 1922-1943.  Part of 1921 has been added, with remaining entries for 1920-1921 to follow in the near future.  

Digitised images of entries from the copy will books covering the period 1858-1900 are now available online, allowing users to view the full content of a will.  93,388 will images are now available to view.

Scottish Soldier's Wills

Scottish Soldiers Wills are scheduled to come online in 2014 as part of the commemoration of World War 1.  The wills consist of special forms removed from soldiers' pay books, other army forms, or other documents. They are generally very brief and do not mention individual possessions. They contain limited personal or service history information.
About 31,000 wills survive, of which approximately 26,000 date from the First World War (WW I) and 4,700 from the Second World War (WW II). The rest belong to the period between 1857 and 1966. The wills were written by men up to the rank of warrant officer. About 100 wills exist of officers who were commissioned from the rank during WW I, and a few from WWII. There are wills of some Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and Royal Air Force (RAF) personnel from WW I, and of six women serving with the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) during World War II.
The soldiers' wills belong to a special series among the records of the Edinburgh Commissary Office, which received them from the War Office because the men were domiciled in Scotland. Most were not recorded in the commissary registers of the Commissary Office and the sheriff courts.