Dublin Prisoner Records

Four volumes of historic Irish police records have been made available online for the first time. Digitised by University College Dublin, the Dublin Metropolitan Police Prisoners Books provide the names of people in the city who found themselves on the wrong side of the law between 1905-08 and 1911-18. The browsable records list the names, ages, addresses and occupations of those who were arrested, plus details of their alleged offence. In most cases, the handwritten entries also provide information about the outcome of the subsequent trial and punishment.

According to the University website, the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) Prisoners Books for 1905-1908 and 1911-1918 are amongst the most valuable new documents to come to light on the revolutionary decade. They include important information on social and political life in the capital during the last years of the Union, from the period of widespread anticipation of Home Rule, to the advent of the 1913 Lockout, the outbreak of the First World War, the Easter Rising and its aftermath, including the conscription crisis of 1918.

Scottish Mental Health and Paternity Records

Graham and Emma Maxwell, genealogists at Maxwell Ancestry, have developed the Scottish Indexes website with a wealth of resources to help you trace your Scottish family tree online. They have a large collection of indexes, from unique sources such as prison and court records to more commonly used sources such as birth, marriage, death and census records. While currently many records are from the south of Scotland, their Quaker records and mental health records cover all of Scotland, and more records from other areas of Scotland are to be added soon.

Online record sets include :

• Pre-1841 Censuses and Population Lists
• 1841 Census
• 1851 Census
• 1861 Census
• Mental Health Records
• Prison Registers
• Sheriff Court Paternity Decrees
• Register of Deeds
• Register of Sasines
• Kelso Dispensary Patient Registers
• Non-OPR Births/Baptisms
• Non-OPR Banns/Marriages
• Non-OPR Deaths/Burials

In addition, Scottish Indexes has also set up a dedicated Mental Health Institutions in Scotland homepage, providing historical information and details of locally held archive resources for hospitals that are yet to appear online.  Institutions are indexed by County.

British Red Cross WW1 Volunteers

A digitisation and transcription project to make thousands of nursing records available on the web has reached completion. Family historians can now search through over 244,000 British Red Cross personnel index cards, providing details of men and women who served as Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) workers during the First World War. First launched in 2014, the project was undertaken by the British Red Cross in partnership with Kingston University, with help from more than 800 volunteers around the world. You can search the collection for free here.

Over 90,000 people volunteered for the Red Cross in World War 1 both at home and overseas.  Volunteers were not just from Britain - they came from all over the Commonwealth, including a number of Australians.  Below are the cards for Victorian volunteer Jessie Traill, who spent much of the war nursing in France.

Inside History Magazine

The latest issue of Inside History magazine is out now - issue 34, May-Jun. Feature articles of this edition include:

• 140+ new family history resources online
• Our expert’s guide to DNA tests
• The mysterious bigamist and his historian descendant: uncovering a criminal ancestor
• What’s new on Trove
• The Australian Women’s Army Service in World War II
• Life on the River Murray for lock-building families
• Anne Summers’ take on Australian women’s history
• How the scientific discovery of longitude shaped maritime history
• The life and lies of Aussie conwoman Ethel Livesey
• A history lover’s guide to Albany
• An 1840s whaling shipwreck discovered in WA
• The 19th-century Irish town and maps now online
• The latest history news, events, book and app reviews, and more. On sale now!

The British Colonist Newspaper

On December 11th, 1858, in the midst of a gold rush, Amor de Cosmos inked up an old hand press and launched a newspaper -- the British Colonist -- into the world.    Published in Victoria, Canada, it became the leading paper in the colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia.  From the extraordinary discoveries of gold and outbreaks of war, to the mundane shipping news and advertisements for insomnia cures - “In every thing that concerns British Columbia we shall take a deep and permanent interest” said de Cosmos.

The website BritishColonist.ca published online this historic newspaper from 1858 to 1950.  At various times named the British Colonist, the Daily British Colonist and the Daily Colonist, it is still published today in Victoria as the Times Colonist. The most recent addition to the online archive (1941 to 1950) covered some 67,000 pages. The Times Colonist is the oldest newspaper in Western Canada and contains a wealth of information for anyone researching Victoria, Vancouver Island and the surrounding areas. The database can be searched by keyword and access is free.

IGRS Launches 80th Anniversary Archive

Do you have an interesting tale to tell about one of your Irish ancestors? Then the Irish Genealogical Research Society would like to hear from you.  Since the Society’s beginning, eighty years ago, their main objective has been to offset the loss of the Irish Public Records at the Four Courts, Dublin, in 1922, by creating a unique collection of Irish genealogical material.  That founding policy continues to this day and is the stimulus for the Society to celebrate its 80th anniversary by creating a special archive of the personal stories of Irish-born ancestors.

The IGRS are interested in hearing about one special ancestor in no more than 2,500 words. They are not asking you to deposit whole family trees, although you are welcome to include a short branch at the end it you wish to place your ancestor in context. They ask you to introduce your chosen ancestor with a few words explaining why they are important to you; and to end with some personal reflections on their life to make the story yours, too. 

All stories received will be deposited the Society’s 80th Anniversary Archive and they intend to publish a selection of them as an e-book. If you would like to submit a story, you are asked send it to the project co-coordinator, Ruth Mathewson, including your full name, address, and email address.  The deadline to make a submission is Wednesday, 31st August 2016. 

New to Ancestry

Two new collections of records relating to the 1916 Easter Rising have been added to Ancestry.
Digitised in partnership with The National Archives at Kew, the releases together provide access to more than 2,600 records, each providing crucial information about Irish Republicans involved in the uprising.
The larger of the two collections, spanning 1916-1922, contains a series of Courts Martial Files, containing details of individuals arrested and tried without a jury for their nationalist activities. This includes papers ordering the execution of the seven signatories of the 1916 Proclamation – Padraig Henry Pearse, Eamon Ceannt, Thomas James Clarke, James Connolly, Sean MacDiarmada, Joseph Mary Plunkett and Thomas MacDonagh.
The second collection, spanning 1914-1922, gives family historians the opportunity to search newspaper clippings and notes gathered by the British intelligence, naming people suspected to have been disloyal to the crown.
If your ancestor was a part of the unrest around this period, there may be information he for you.  And even if they were not a part of the uprising the data still provides a fascinating insight into this piece of Irish history.

Post-Cruise Update

I am back home after the 10th Unlock the Past Genealogy Cruise to New Zealand and Southern Australia, and slowly settling back into my usual routine.  While the cruise was hugely enjoyable, I managed to come down with hay fever and a chest infection on Day 2, and have dragged slightly since.  Illness and lack of decent internet access mean I haven't kept up my blog during the cruise, so hopefull over the next few days I will pull my notes together and report a bit more in-depth.  Overall the cruise was great - excellent speakers with 79 sessions that you could attend, with no two sessions on at the same time, so there was no need to look at the agenda and sigh because you couldn't be in two places at once.  A good mix of Australian and international speakers covered a broad range of topics, and despite frequently being told a speaker's notes would be available I have almost filled my notebook with their words of wisdom. 

The Celebrity Solstice

 As I have said before, I love GeneaCruising - board the ship, unpack once, visit several places and do what you like on the in-port days and a great conference to attend on the at-sea days.  Someone else cooks, cleans and makes the bed, travel takes care of itself while you are off having fun, and there are plenty of people with similar interests to talk to.  Ports of call this trip were Auckland (our starting point), Bay of Islands, Tauranga, Wellington, Akaroa, Dunedin, touring through Dusky, Doubtful and Milford Sounds, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Fremantle (where we disembarked).  Some people found an 18 night cruise a bit long, and although I must admit I was ready for my own bed by the end it was still a great trip, and I would happily go again (without the illness).
So if you are thinking about Genea-Cruising, visit Unlock the Past's Cruises website and check out what is coming up.

Using the 1939 Register: Recording the UK population before the war

The National Archives UK have released a talk on the creation and use of the 1939 Register.  Available either as a webinar or audio podcast, the talk runs for just over an hour and is presented by Records Specialist Audrey Collins.
The Register, taken on 29 September 1939, provides a snapshot of the civilian population of England and Wales just after the outbreak of the Second World War.  As the 1931 census for England and Wales was destroyed by fire duringWW2  and no census was taken in 1941, the 1939 Register helps fill the gap created.  Whilst the 1939 Register is not a census, it is arranged along similar lines and includes similar, if less detailed, information.
The records were used to produce up-to-date population statistics and identification cards and, once rationing was introduced in January 1940, to facilitate the issuing of ration cards. Information in the Register was also used to administer conscription, and to monitor and control the movement of the population caused by military mobilisation and mass evacuation.

Genealogy Cruising

My countdown is on as I prepare for my second Unlock the Past genealogy cruise.  This is the company's 10th cruise and it runs from Auckland to Fremantle, with all the usual luxuries on offer on a cruise ship with the added bonus of a genealogy conference, mostly on our 'at sea' days.
The countdown app on my phone tells me it is 24 days until I fly out, as I am having a few days alone in Auckland before joining my fellow Geneacruisers on board the Celebrity Solstice.  I'm starting to feel organised - I have my passport, my flights and hotels are booked, my packing list is pretty much done, I have some New Zealand currency for sundry shopping, the suitcase is out in the spare bedroom and the cat is starting to sulk because his human is preparing to go away without his permission.

Our cruise ship the Celebrity Solstice

I will be reporting on the cruise in this blog, so watch this space for cruise news, or check out the Unlock the Past 10th Cruise website to see what you're going to miss out on!  Some of their main cruise speakers will also be speaking in several cities in Australia and New Zealand around the cruise time, so check out their schedule and book in the see them if you can.

Clean out the shed and share the stories

Over the Christmas / New Year break, my sister and I faced up to the daunting tast of clearing out the shed at our family home.  After the deaths of our father in 2013 and mother in May 2015, and having already sorted the contents of the house, if was time to face the shed.  And not just any shed, but a SHED!  3 car garage with a workshop the same size behind, with another smaller shed at the rear, our shed is bigger than many a house. 

Full to the brim with the accumulation of over 40 years in the same house, packed even further when I moved home to care for our aging parents, it was a substantial undertaking.  Amidst all the junk - unfinished knitting and sewing projects, chipped crockery, non-working electrical appliances, old light fittings, etc - we found treasures!  Baby cards received when each of us were born, old photos we had never seen, travel journals kept by our mother on long-ago trips, letters written by our father just before our parents' marriage, so many things!  An emotional journey, several times we found ourselves wishing so much that our parents were still with us so we could ask all the questions the items we found created for us.  Why had this china cup been kept?  Whose was it and how long had it been in the family?  There were so many bits and pieces put away that we had no idea of the history of, and so generally didn't keep.  If my sister and I didn't know, there was no one left to ask.

What items do you have tucked away in odd corners, rarely taken out and dusted off??  When was the last time you had a sort-through of that cupboard, closet or shed where you put all those things you never use but cannot part with??  Do your children or grandchildren know the stories behind those treasures you have stored away??  If they don't, chances are they will dismiss those items as junk and they will be lost.  If your children don't know the story behind Great Aunt Mary's tea set - or even that the tea set in the shed was Great Aunt Mary's and not something you picked up on a whim at a jumble sale - then they will have no reason to keep it, value it, and ultimately pass it on to another generation.

So over the next few weekends, I will be busy scanning and digitising photos, letters and journals, preserving them, and their story, for future generations.  I will also be having a look at some of the stuff I keep 'just because', and maybe having a little clean out of my own.