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First World War Army Ancestors How exciting NEW online records can reveal the part your family played in the Great War
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Welcome Sarah’s T p Tip Check local archives for any unique collections of First World War records As Phil Tomaselli’s article (page 17) makes clear, most military records relating to the First World War are held at The National Archives in Kew. However, turn to page 50 and you will see an amazing record, vital to anyone researching a soldier in the 1st Bucks Battalion, that is only available at the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies in Aylesbury. Dig deeper – not all WW1 records are online or at TNA.
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ne hundred years ago, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the guns fell silent. Hostilities ceased but the painful reality of living with both mental and physical wounds continued for our families. It feels right in this centenary year to remember those who fought in this terrible conflict, not just by name but with as much understanding of what they experienced as we can glean from the archives (page 17). We’ve got a lot of WW1 features in the magazine this month (look for the poppies on Contents page 4), but we’ve got plenty more coming up over the next year including features on those who fought on the sea and in the air. So keep an eye out and build your library. There is less than five months left to share your WW1 research via the Imperial War Museums’ Lives of the First World War digital memorial (page 19). The website closes to new entries on 18 March 2019, so make sure that those who served in your family have been included and add what you can before it’s too late. Finally, welcome to our new look. We have improved legibility, added even more web resources, and included bigger record images. We’ve also added some new features (see My Family Album on page 88). Thank you to my lovely team who have worked so hard over the past couple of months to make this happen. Happy reading!
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Phil Tomaselli
Nell Darby
Robbie Bennie
Phil is our resident military history expert, answering questions in our Q&A pages and often writing features. He explains how to access WW1 records online on page 17.
Nell is a writer and social historian, but this month goes behind the scenes of a new TV series on British crafts (page 26). She has also been hard at work compiling our new-look Q&A pages.
Robbie has been our art editor for more years than he cares to remember (almost seven). He has worked super-hard over the past months creating a new look for us. We love it! 3
CONTENTS NOVEMBER 2018 FEATURES 17 Army Ancestors
ON THE COVER
Discover the online records that can reveal the part your soldier ancestors played in the First World War
26 Made In Great Britain Preview We take you behind the scenes of the new BBC series that celebrates our country’s regional industries
72 %DWWOHÀHOG 7RXULVP The families who made pilgrimages after the end of the First World War to see where their loved ones had died
RESEARCH ADVICE 53 Best Websites
ON THE COVER
Our experts share the best free sources of historic maps
56 Record Masterclass
ON THE COVER
How you can make the most of electoral registers
59 Ancestors At Work
ON THE COVER
Our forebears’ varied careers in the classroom
62 7HFK 7LSV How to read WDYTYA? Magazine using our new iOS app
65 )RFXV 2Q
ON THE COVER
Track down asylum patients’ records online
YOUR RESEARCH 34 Reader Story
ON THE COVER
Researching the names on three local First World War memorials changed Julie Ann Godson’s life
70 (XUHND 0RPHQW How the GRO Birth Index smashed a brick wall
88 My FDPLO\ $OEXP
17 26
A chance for readers to share their family photos
98 Family Hero Sylvia Collins celebrates her grandfather, a WW1 hero
REGULARS 6 Letters Your ideas, comments and advice
9 News All of the latest news and data releases
13 :KDW·V 2Q GETTY IMAGES
This month’s events, including talks and society fairs
14 Wdytya? Magazine SKRS Back issues, magazine storage and a wall chart
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Your Bonus Content GET EXCLUSIVE DATA WORTH £23.38 FOR FREE ONLINE – SEE PAGE 81
f WHITE’S GAZETTEER OF ESSEX, 1863 This mid-Victorian resource from My History (my-history.co.uk) is normally priced £14.95 on CD or £11.95 as a download.
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f OFFICIAL GUIDE TO ILFORD, 1930 Also from My History is this guidebook priced £3.95 on CD (£3.49 download).
f KELLY’S DIRECTORY OF SOUTHENDON-SEA, 1931 The third and final My History resource is priced £10.95 on CD (£7.94 download).
f ESSEX RECORD OFFICE IMAGE SET This month’s free bonus content also includes 16 interesting documents and images from the staff of Essex Record Office in Colchester.
53 SUBSCRIPTION OFFER
Subscribe Today And Get A Month’s FREE Trial 38
56 15 2II 7KH Record How WW1 memorials helped heal the nation’s pain
30 7KH %LJ 3LFWXUH The Armistice celebrations outside Buckingham Palace
41 Q&A
ON THE COVER
Our expert genealogists unravel your riddles
50 Gem From 7KH AUFKLYH
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WW1 casualty books from the 1st Bucks Battalion
77 %HKLQG 7KH Headlines The major events of 1700–1709
79 $URXQG %ULWDLQ
ON THE COVER
Our complete guide to tracing your Essex ancestors
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87 Celebrating YRXU Projects How a town commemorated being auctioned off in 1918
95 %HKLQG 7KH 6FHQHV The sources used in Robert Rinder’s WDYTYA? episode
GUIDE 91 Books & Digital Picks This month’s family history inspiration
79 whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com
94 79 Radio All the must-see/hear programmes
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Letters Email wdytyaeditorial@immediate.co.uk Write to WDYTYA? Magazine, Tower House, Fairfax Street, Bristol BS1 3BN
WIN an AncestryDNA test kit from ancestry.co.uk WORTH £79 The writer of our star letter wins an AncestryDNA test worth £79 – so drop us a line and share your thoughts with us.
A Failure Of Will
Ann’s great great grandfather died in a mining explosion in 1881
Kill Off Your Ancestors! On your What’s On page (August), the talk at the Bramhall United Reform Church from the Bramhall branch of the Cheshire Family History Society entitled ‘What Did He Die Of?’ caught my attention. As Bramhall is reasonably close, I persuaded my husband to go. It was very informative and interesting. Even my husband, whose eyes often glaze over when I enthuse about our ancestors, asked questions. When I started researching our families over 20 years ago, I thought that death certificates were a waste of money as they did not appear to move my tree forward. This despite the advice to “kill off your ancestors”, and the fact that my first certificate revealed my great great grandfather had died in a mining explosion, which provided me with considerable research opportunities. However, recently I have found that death certificates are packed with useful information. They can indicate lifestyle, environmental conditions and employment hazards, and can help with identifying relatives of the deceased. One example is my great great grandmother Sarah Powell who had an illegitimate son, George. After Sarah’s marriage, George took the husband’s name for two censuses. I followed
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who I believed to be the correct son, and for years had his family in my records. It was not until I received Sarah’s death certificate showing the informant as her son that I realised he had reverted to Sarah’s maiden name, which he was baptised with. I had to find a new family. I did, and the proof was that in 1939 George’s widow was living with Sarah’s granddaughter. We also got a clue for one of my husband’s ancestors from the wife’s certificate, as her status was recorded in relation to her husband and gave his occupation of “well sinker”, not in any other record. The husband’s certificate threw an entirely different light on the family. I found newspaper reports of him being drunk and disorderly, suggesting he was ‘a bit of a lad’, but his death certificate showed he died of “chronic alcoholism” – not good for a well sinker, a dangerous occupation, or for family life. I also have several death certificates involving accidents, including being “accidentally killed by a ferocious bull”. They provide a fascinating view of our ancestors’ lives, albeit at the end. Ann Simcock, by email
Editor Replies: Thanks for inspiring us Ann!
Your article ‘Where there’s a will’ (September) gives details of how wills are processed, but this doesn’t always seem to work. My 5x great uncle, William Jackson, made a will in 1775. The main purpose seems to have been to ensure that his two remaining siblings, Joshua and Sarah Grimshaw, did not face financial problems should he die before them. In the event Joshua died in 1775; Aaron, Sarah’s husband, in 1777; and Sarah in 1804. Joshua never married, and Sarah and Aaron had no children. William’s will also left monies to his surviving relations: nephew James Lister, £300; to James’s sons, James and William, £50 each; and £50 to Rachel, the daughter of his nephew John. In this 1775 will William leaves all his personal possessions to his assistant, Mary Jones. She had worked with William since his earliest times in Oxford, and he probably looked upon her as an associate who had helped develop the business. William Jackson died in 1795. When his will went to probate, it was accompanied by a document described as “Will B”, which is not dated, signed or witnessed! The probate officers stated that, as Sarah Grimshaw was his only surviving relative, she should get £10,000, despite the will of 1775 providing for her. Also the sons, James and William, of his nephew James Lister were still alive. When Sarah died, most of what had been inherited from her brother William was distributed among their mother’s family, as well as £400 to William Lister. Derrick Holt, Oxford
Editor Replies: Thanks Derrick. As your research has revealed, the probate process is not always straightforward.
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STAR LETTER
Double Trouble I recently received a copy of an article an Australian relative wrote for a family history magazine. It had details of an ancestor who was transported to Tasmania, did his time, set up home in Australia and then was murdered in 1859. I searched the National Library of Australia’s website of digital resources Trove (trove.nla.gov.au) and found a newspaper that reported an abridged version of the court case. The culprit was arrested, taken to court with his accomplice, tried and both acquitted, but not released. The very next day the culprit was in court again, accused of attempted murder of a local gentleman’s manservant. He was sentenced to hang. I wonder if the acquittal was so he could be tried and sentenced for the second crime, perpetrated on a person with, possibly, more status, rather than be found guilty of a crime of murder against a man who had been a criminal himself? I may never know. Kim Tozer, by email
Editor Replies: Perhaps the case was just stronger for the second offence. Family history often poses as many questions as it answers.
Armistice Memories
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I am lucky enough to have my grandfather’s pocket diary for 1918 [see above]. The two entries dated 11 and 12 November are particularly poignant.
Phillip treasures his grandfather’s pocket diary from 1918, including the entry he made on the day of the Armistice
Monday 11th: “Armistice signed. Wonderful scenes of joy in town.” Tuesday 12th: “Do nothing.” My paternal grandfather was serving with the South African Royal Flying Corps and had been shot down, but he fortunately recovered and survived to the end. He went on to become city engineer for Bulawayo. Considering that my maternal grandfather served in the trenches with the Lincolnshire Regiment and my father flew in Lancaster Bombers with the Rhodesian Air Force, I consider myself very fortunate to be here at all. At this special anniversary of 100 years since the Armistice, not only will I be remembering family members and all who fell
A distant relative of Kim’s was transported to Tasmania, like these convicts
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in service but I shall have this special memento to enhance the moment. Dr Phillip Thornton, by email
Editor Replies: Thank you for sharing this with us Phillip. Do any other readers have similar mementos of the Armistice in their family archive?
audacity to include the wonderful photo I have of four generations taken in 1916 – depicting my mother as a baby, her mother, grandmother and great grandmother – which was given to me by my mother, when none of them have any connection to her and she has made inaccurate connections.
@AnneDicki The cemetery in Belgium where my parents are buried holds graves of 32 GB soldiers who all died from Spanish flu. Dad used to put poppies down every 11 November. I now go back yearly to keep up his commemoration of the fallen.
More Tree Problems I am writing in response to the letter from C Glenn (September) about discovering mistakes on other Ancestry users’ family trees involving your relations. I too have experienced the same problem. I contacted the person concerned via Ancestry but received no reply, and the wrong information and photographs remain on her tree. I find this distressing. I contacted Ancestry regarding this matter as I felt the person concerned should be given a warning as it is in fact plagiarism, but they were not able to help. I felt particularly upset as the person concerned has the
It would therefore please me greatly if something could be done about this. Yvonne Barnett, by email
A Shocking Mistake Like C Glenn, I also had a shock on Ancestry. I found that a person living in America had posted a family tree stating that my grandfather’s place of birth was Brecon. I informed this person that this information was incorrect via Ancestry, as I had my grandfather’s birth certificate in my possession. My grandfather was born in Port Talbot. He lived in the house he was born in until his
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marriage to my grandmother, and had no connection at all with Brecon. This person did not alter their findings, which made me very angry. So, after Ancestry stated there was nothing they could do to alter incorrect information, I ended my subscription with them as I could not cope with this incorrect family tree being on public view on a daily basis. Elizabeth Kift, Swansea
Issue 145 — November 2018 Editorial Editor Sarah Williams Features editor Jon Bauckham Production editor Seth Burgess Editorial assistant Rosemary Collins Art editor Robbie Bennie Contributors Nell Darby, Sue Gent, Sophie Hobbs
Advertising Sales Ad manager Sam Jones 0117 300 8145 Ad sales executive Andy Williams 0117 314 8823 Inserts Laurence Robertson 00 353 876 902208
Marketing Marketing manager Kellie Lane Direct marketing executive Craig Ramsay
Editor Replies: Clearly the issue of incorrect trees, and people unwilling to change them, continues to annoy many of you. MyHeritage has a ‘consistency checker’ for its trees, or alternatively FamilySearch just has one big shared tree so there can only be one version. Perhaps it’s time for Ancestry to have a rethink about how it tackles this problem.
French Connection The feature on Huguenots in your last issue (October) was excellent, and the records really can open up hidden gems in the unlikeliest of places. After my first child was born eight years ago, I decided to start looking into my wife’s ancestry
Press And PR Head of PR Dominic Lobley
Production Nicholas enjoyed our October feature on the Huguenots, by Kathy Chater
area who married another weaver called John Burton and lived what seemed a poor, but pretty normal life. For years I thought nothing more, until I recently decided to look into her Saint heritage. Through a mix of fellow researchers on Ancestry, the use of Google and records that distant relations kindly shared with me, I found something amazing. Sarah was indeed quite poor, backed up by incredibly detailed workhouse records, but also of Huguenot origin. This meant that when being taken in by the
Jane Rebecca Christie I have solved a huge brick wall through having a DNA test, and also discovered a niece l had no idea existed. So for me it was definitely worth it. On the minus side I also discovered a connection to a mass murderer, but it was still worth it!!
display at the Huguenot Museum in Rochester (near where the hospital now is). But the surprises didn’t stop there. When Prince William and Kate got married a few years ago, her dress was designed by a certain Sarah Burton of the Alexander McQueen fashion house (name purely a coincidence). This Sarah Burton apparently took inspiration from the silk garments woven by Huguenots, and specifically her namesake who died at the hospital in 1901! So our ‘boring’ silk-weaving ancestor has only ended up inspiring the wedding dress of the future Queen! Nicholas Larkin, Romford, Essex
Editor Replies: What a wonderful story, Nicholas, complete with a remarkable link with royalty.
for their sake, tracing family from England to Jamaica and even Asia. Over that time I’ve often been guilty of focusing on the more exotic ancestors, and not spending the same effort looking into Londoners who seemed to have more ‘boring’ lives. My wife’s 4x great grandmother Sarah Saint (1817–1901) seemed to be one such ancestor – a silkweaver from the Bethnal Green
French Hospital after falling on harder times, she had to prove her lineage – something that goes back to Élincourt in Oise, France, in the early 1700s. This also helps explain my wife’s fairly large share of Western European origin in her DNA results. It seems Sarah lived out many of her last years at the hospital, weaving silk while she was there. Some of her actual work is on
Virtual Mortality I was interested to read C Glenn’s letter. Lately I was surprised to find that I was included on a family member’s tree as having died in 1970. The strange thing is that I receive Christmas greetings from them. So there is life beyond the grave! M Lewis, by email
YOUR LETTER IN PRINT We reserve the right to edit any letters sent to the magazine. Messages posted to our Facebook wall and tweets sent to us may also appear in print. The choice of star letter is the editor’s and the prize is subject to change.
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News Rosemary Collins reports on the latest data releases and genealogy news
First World War pensions records go live on Ancestry The first stage of a major project to digitise First World War soldiers’ pension records has gone live ahead of Remembrance Day. A set of 50,485 records from naval pension ledgers and Merchant Marine cards was published at the start of October as the result of a partnership between Ancestry and the Western Front Association (WFA). Searchable transcriptions of the records have been added to ancestry.co.uk, while 18,270 digital images of the records are available to subscribers of Ancestry’s military history website fold3.com. In November 2012, the WFA acquired an archive of approximately 6.5 million First World War pension records index cards and ledgers from the Ministry of Defence, saving them from destruction. In December 2017, it announced that scanning and indexing of the records was underway, following a deal with Ancestry. David Tattersfield, WFA development trustee, explained to Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine that since the WFA is a small organisation, the partnership with Ancestry
The digitised pension records will help family historians research their First World War soldier ancestors
WESTERN FRONT ASSOCIATION
‘Tattersfield said the records provide the best chance for ors’ many to trace WW1 ancest is vital for “getting [the records] out into the public domain”. The records were used by the Government to keep track of pensions paid to soldiers, sailors and airmen who were injured in the First World War, as well as the widows and dependants of men who were killed. They are one of the largest surviving sets of records of British forces in the First World War, since the majority of the military records were whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com
destroyed in an air raid in 1940. Tattersfield added that the records now provide the best chance for many people to trace their First World War ancestors. “If he did survive the war and claim a pension, then there should be a record for him,” he said. Ancestry will upload more records before Remembrance Day on 11 November, and add the complete set by early 2019. WFA is also planning to allow its members to access the records via its website without a subscription to Ancestry or Fold3. The first tranche of records consists of cards used by the Ministry of Pensions to monitor payments to injured Merchant Navy veterans or the families of the dead. Among those are men killed in the notorious 1915 sinking of the RMS Lusitania, as well as victims of smaller incidents. The naval ledgers, meanwhile, list married men who served in the Royal Navy and were lost at sea, and whose widows and children were eligible for pensions. Both sets of records can include the seaman’s name, rank, service number, date of birth, date of death or injury, and the ship that he served on. They are also valuable for tracing the families of deceased seamen, because they list each widow’s name, date of marriage, and the names and dates of birth of any children. 9
100,000 award to digitise Church Of Ireland parish registers
NEWS IN BRIEF WW1 nurses scrapbooks project wins £500 award A project to share First World War nurses’ scrapbooks online has won this year’s £500 Community History Project prize from the Women’s History Network. A team of 32 volunteer nurses worked with Royal College of Nursing Library and Archives staff to scan and transcribe 10 scrapbooks, which are available at rcn.org.uk/servicescrapbooks. The judges said that the project “help[ed] address the gender imbalance in accessible primary material from the Great War”.
Josepha Madigan (purple outfit) photographed at the Church of Ireland’s Representative Church Body Library
at the Representative Church Body Library, said the funding would make the records “accessible and discoverable for all” and ensure their long-term survival. “It is extremely good news not just for the library, but the Church at large and indeed the generations of clergy and record-keepers who have kept these records safe,” she added. Currently, the only Church of Ireland registers available on IrishGenealogy are those covering Co. Kerry, Co. Carlow and Dublin City. The earliest Church of Ireland registers date from 1619. Although the Church was never the majority religion in Ireland, it was disproportionately powerful and membership was vital for those owning land or serving in government positions.
CAN YOU HELP? The North East Film Archive (NEFA) has launched an appeal to find historic film and videotape collections capturing life in the region. NEFA – which merged with the Yorkshire Film Archive in 2012 – has introduced its new Search & Rescue campaign as part of the North East on Film project. The archive is looking for films in or about Stockton celebrates the coronation the region, including family film collections, advertising collections from local companies, cine of Elizabeth II in June 1953 club collections, educational films, professional films, and artists’ films and videos. They will be preserved, digitised and screened in the communities where they were originally filmed. Archive manager Graham Relton said the films would provide an “absolutely fantastic record” of the north-east. If you have a film or video you would like to share, please email nefa@tees.ac.uk or call 01642 384022.
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This map featured in the Brent collection
TheGenealogist publishes 1910 Brent records The digitisation of the 1910 Land Valuation Survey on thegenealogist. co.uk has reached its third stage with the release of about 33,000 records for Brent. The survey’s Field Books recorded details of properties and their residents across England and Wales, gathered in order to assess the value of land to generate taxes. The Field Books and maps from Brent, then a rural suburb of London, follow the release of records for the City of London, Paddington and North London.
FamilySearch adds 1858–1957 wills index Details of wills proved in England and Wales between 1858 and 1957 are now available on familysearch. org. The website has added 4,885,194 transcribed records from the National Index of Wills and Administrations, listing each person’s name and date of death. This provides an easier way to search for your ancestors’ wills than the Government’s probatesearch. service.gov.uk/#wills.
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CHURCH OF IRELAND
Parish registers that document centuries of life in the Anglican church in Ireland will be made available online thanks to the award of a 100,000 grant from Ireland’s government. Josepha Madigan, the minister for culture, heritage and the Gaeltacht, announced the funding on a visit to the Church of Ireland’s Representative Church Body Library on 12 September. The money will be spent on imaging equipment and technical support to digitise registers held in the library, followed by those from local parishes. The records, which include baptisms, banns, marriages and burials, will be indexed and published on irishgenealogy.ie, the Irish government’s free genealogy website. Dr Susan Hood, librarian and archivist
WW1 ANCESTORS
Find Your
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First World War Army Ancestors Online Phil Tomaselli explains the diverse resources that reveal the role your family played in the Allies’ victory whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com
In August 1914 British soldiers who have recently arrived in France prepare to go to the lines
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early nine million men and more than 50,000 women served in the British Army in the First World War, making it by far the biggest of the services. But the loss of about 60 per cent of soldiers’ service records in the Arnside Street fire in September 1940 means that detective work is often required to discover what a relative did, and where they served. However, many records have recently been digitised, and more are coming. This means that researching your Army ancestor is easier now than it was even four years ago.
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Soldiers’ Service Records The place to begin is the surviving soldiers’ service records, now digitised and indexed on both ancestry.co.uk and findmypast. co.uk. If you can find the record it should provide all of the basic information you require, although other sources may add detail. The records comprise two sets of documents, the ‘burnt’ (salvaged from Arnside Street) and ‘unburnt’ comprising documents held by the Ministry of Pensions. Ancestry keeps them separate so both sets can be searched, but Findmypast has them together in their British Army Service Records collection. Previously undigitised, Findmypast has digitised the records of soldiers from the Household Cavalry including those from the First World War. When searching Ancestry you can include the names of family members to narrow it down, but Findmypast has indexed many of the lists and scraps contained
Army Form B103
Though hard to read in places, this example shows how useful B103 is for tracing the movements of a soldier. You can find it among surviving First World War service records on Ancestry and Findmypast
1
2 4
3
5
1Personal Details
This includes the soldier’s name, regimental number and age on enlistment.
And Place 2Date Embarked
This includes the date he arrived overseas, plus the unit (26 Section, Heavy Artillery
Of Moves 3Dates To Other Units
Once you have this information, you should be able to trace the War Diaries. Even in the burnt documents (some just surviving scraps) it should be possible to find a clue such as a service
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number, allowing you to trace his Medal Index Card.
Medal Index Cards For most family historians MICs are the entry point to their research, but note that
Military forms are full of acronyms. Here “14th CSAP” stands for 14th Corps Siege Artillery Park.
This column is usually in chronological order, so our soldier went from 121 Siege Battery to 272 Company then 402 Company etc.
‘Researching your Army ancestor is easier now than it was even four years ago’ within the records, so your soldier might be shown on one of these. A complete service record should give details of a soldier’s service including the individual units that he served in (often as a Form B103 – see the box above).
4Acronyms
Motor Transport, attached 121 Siege Battery).
5P.T.O.
Side two of the form has nearly a dozen other moves before discharge in 1919!
soldiers who only served within the UK rarely received medals. Unfortunately the cards rarely contain enough identifying information to allow you to be sure it’s the right soldier, although occasionally an address or the name of next of kin will appear on the back. The card itself can contain many useful details including regiment(s) served in; the date he first went overseas (and sometimes where, if not France); and whether he was a prisoner of war (POW), killed, deserted or discharged early. Gallantry medal awards are often mentioned. If the name is a common one, you may have to follow several men before pinning one down as your ancestor. It’s best to work from images whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com
of MICs, rather than transcripts. These are available from Ancestry and (for a price) nationalarchives. gov.uk, The National Archives’ (TNA’s) website, although only Ancestry has copied both sides. Findmypast has transcribed the cards, and if you subscribe to both sites then it’s worth checking the transcription against the original in case the transcriber noticed something you missed. Some cards are for people who weren’t awarded medals, but generally if there’s an MIC then there’s also a medal roll.
Medal Rolls Available only on Ancestry, medal rolls were compiled by regimental record offices from details provided by commanding officers. The record office then issued medals to men no longer serving (the vast majority). There are rolls for the three main medals issued: the 1914 Star (for regulars and reservists serving in France between August and November 1914); the 1914–1915 Star awarded to others who served in 1914 or 1915; and the British War Medal and Victory Medal (awarded together). A soldier awarded either of the first automatically received the last. For men who served overseas before 1 January 1916 there should be two rolls.
Medal rolls for infantry soldiers show not only the regiment(s) they served in but also their battalions. Although moves between regiments or battalions aren’t dated, the rolls provide a framework for checking War Diaries. Rolls for the 1914 Star and 1914–1915 Star often state the exact unit that a soldier first went abroad with.
In late 1916 these soldiers received the Victoria Cross at Buckingham Palace
War Diaries All units compiled a daily War Diary saying where they were and what they were doing. In the event of action they usually
compiled a narrative of the fighting. Ordinary soldiers are rarely mentioned, but careful examination will tell you where your ancestor went and which actions he fought in. Diaries for France and Belgium and for Gallipoli are available on Ancestry, or can be purchased via TNA’s Online Collections: bit.ly/tna-online-collections. For many units such as transport, engineer and supply companies the diaries tend to write “Normal duties performed” day after day, but they’ll at least tell you where your relative
Step-By-Step
GETTY IMAGES
When you’ve researched your ancestor’s First World War service, add him or her to the Imperial War Museum’s Lives of the First World War digital memorial before it closes to new entries in March 2019
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Visit livesofthefirstworldwar.org and type the surname and service number of the relative you have researched – if you just enter the surname, you may get too many results. Entries has been created for combatants using Medal Index Cards.
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You may find that someone has already typed in information for your soldier – if so, click on his name and see if you can add anything. Otherwise you will be asked to supply his birth and death details if known. You will need to attach evidence.
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Click ‘Add to Life Story’. Subscribers (it costs £6 a month) can search for and attach records direct from the site. You can upload images too; you can’t upload records from other subscription sites, but you can add a web link to the source.
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READER STORY A reader shares their discoveries
‘I’ll Never Forget Them – I Think About Them Every Day’ YOUR George Bolton fought at Gallipoli, and in the battles of Jutland and Dogger Bank
ese ‘It’s staggering to think that th men’ ny small communities lost so ma history. “I give talks and publish books on the subject. I moved here from Kent in 2010, and was interested in the history around me,” she says. “I often pottered down to my local church, St Denys’ in Northmoor, and with the 100th anniversary of the Armistice approaching, my eyes kept wandering up to the solemn and beautiful memorial on the wall.” She noticed that there were no ranks and no titles by any of the names. “I now realise that every death was deemed an equal contribution. I thought that researching this arbitrary list of 48 names on the memorials 34
1914–1918 was launched on 28 September – fittingly at Northmoor Village Hall. When she began, Julie Ann soon realised what a mammoth task she had taken on. “I floundered a bit at first – each serviceman took me about a week, but once I narrowed down which sources were most useful, I got it down to a couple of days. It took four months of absolutely full-time work to finish the book.” Her research began with the big hitters in every family historian’s arsenal – the census; birth, marriage and death records; and local parish registers. “First of all, I investigated
OV E R I E
TELL YOUR STORY Share your family story with us and you could appear in the magazine! Please write to us at the address on page 3 or email jon.bauckham@ immediate.co.uk
each man’s family background,” she says. “I accessed local newspaper reports via my library subscription – these were fantastic. Jackson’s Oxford Journal was very good for finding out snippets about people’s background, including quite delicious things like convictions for poaching.”
<RXQJ 0HQ·V 6DFULÀFH Julie Ann eventually realised that she’d have to engage with the military records. “In some cases, a soldier died so young that the only thing on record about him was his baptismal entry and then the circumstances of his death. Left school, went to war, was killed, end of story. So that’s what I had to write about.” However, she found that whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com
UNP/DAVE FLEMING
at Northmoor, Standlake and Stanton Harcourt would be a good way of exploring society in the Lower Windrush Valley at the start of the 20th century.” Julie Ann set out to focus on their lives before the war. “It’s staggering to think that these three small rural communities lost so many men,” she says. “Some families bore multiple losses. Several women lost two sons, one woman lost all three.” She decided to compile her research into a book to raise funds for the veterans’ mentalhealth charity Combat Stress (combatstress.org.uk). Our Boys
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arlier this year, local historian Julie Ann Godson set herself a challenge – the daunting task of researching every name on her three local war memorials. Along the way she discovered far more than just the backgrounds of fallen men: she uncovered the impact that their loss had on their families, and the heavy toll of grinding rural poverty. And, frustratingly, she turned up one mystery man whose origins remain elusive. Julie Ann studied history at Oxford University and has continued to research local
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When Julie Ann Godson researched the names on three Oxfordshire war memorials, she discovered a fascinating cross-section of society from captains to ploughboys – who all became heroes, says Claire Vaughan
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Julie Ann Godson in St Denysâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Church, Northmoor, with one of the war memorials she researched
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What happened to my forebear Edward’s family?
Barry got in touch with the magazine because he wanted to know why the 1851 census records Edward Stubbs as staying with his ‘kin’
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My ancestor, Edward Stubbs, was baptised on 5 March 1837 at St Benedict’s, Norwich, and married on Christmas Day 1860 in Great Yarmouth. On his marriage certificate, his father is given as Thomas Stubbs. Edward died in 1921, aged 84. On the 1851 census, Edward is living with ‘kin’ in Pockthorpe, Norfolk. These ‘kin’ are Kader and Mary Ann Kiddal. Edward’s father may have gone to America, and that is why young Edward is with kin. Can you cast any light? Barry Hawkes
QUICK TIP
What Does Soundex Mean? ‘Soundex’ is a phonetic coding system, or algorithm, that indexes names by sound. A Soundex search enables you to search for a name as it is pronounced, rather than how it is spelled – so the search results will include alternative permutations of a name, and not just a particular spelling of it. The advantages for genealogical searches are obvious – it means that if you search for Smith, but an index has spelled the name as Smyth, a Soundex search will return results for both variations.
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There are no outgoing passenger lists until 1890, but some migration and transportation records have been digitised and are available online. Contact Norfolk Record Office for local assisted migration records, check its parish and union workhouse collections, and see its catalogue for Poor Law and pre1858 probate indexes (www. archives.norfolk.gov.uk). There is no death registered for Thomas Stubbs in Norfolk between 1837 and 1900. However, it was not compulsory to register deaths until 1875, so make sure you check parish burials. Many Norfolk registers
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are online, but not all, and some have gaps. Check what is missing, and search those at the record office. Edward’s marriage record says that his father was Thomas, but the baptism you mention gives his parents as William and Sarah. Online indexes don’t reveal any Edward, son of Thomas, but one Edward was baptised in 1838 in St John Maddermarket, Norwich, son of Benjamin and Emily Ann. Both families appear on the 1841 census. In 1851 William, Sarah and Edward were in Norwich St Gregory, but I couldn’t find Benjamin and Emily. In 1861 your Edward
was in Pockthorpe, as the widowed Mary Ann Kiddal’s nephew. Kader Kiddal married Mary Ann Stubbs at St John Maddermarket in 1829 – the 1851 census says that she was born in Norwich around 1804. Mary Ann, daughter of Edward and Ann Stubbs (née Fulcher), was baptised at St Peter Southgate, Norwich, in 1803. Edward and Ann had children in various parishes, including William in 1808 and Benjamin in 1814, but no Thomas. I recommend checking the St John Maddermarket registers, as these are only partially online. Gill Blanchard
Why is my mother missing in 1939?
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I have a question about the 1939 Register on ancestry.co.uk. Ancestry sent me a ‘hint’ to do with my grandmother, Florence Elizabeth Chinn. This showed my grandmother, my grandfather John and two of their four daughters. There were also two officially closed records – one is where the youngest daughter, Jean Margaret, aged eight, would have been (she died in 1942), and the other is where my mother, Edna, would have been – in 1939, she was 18 and working. However, I am wondering why my mother’s record was closed, as she outlived the rest of the family, and died in 2008. Margaret Oldroyd The 1939 Register can be searched online using the Ancestry website, findmypast.co.uk and myheritage.com. I checked the register entry for your family on Ancestry and Findmypast. Findmypast has an option to ‘Check if you can open a closed record’, explaining that “records for individuals remain closed for 100 years from their date of birth… until proof of death is verified”. However, subscribers can request that a record is
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opened for free. At the bottom of each Findmypast 1939 Register transcript page is the button ‘Open a closed record’. You can complete an online form with the relevant information of their deaths. You will need to supply proof – Findmypast Florence and John Chinn are included in the 1939 Register will only accept a copy of a death certificate issued by the General Register Office, or an overseas equivalent. If you are not a Findmypast subscriber, contact The National Archives to request a search of closed records. TNA advises at bit.ly/TNArecords that you can “view the opened record at our partner website after ten working days of notification of a successful request. We charge a non-refundable fee of £23.35 for a search.” Again, a copy of an official death certificate or the equivalent is required. Emma Jolly
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Q&A
When was my great grandfather Nathaniel photographed?
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Could you give me some idea of when these photos were taken? They are both of the same man – my great grandfather, Nathaniel Conway, who was born in 1853 and died in 1923. He spent all his working life with the London and North Western Railway Company, mostly as a train guard. Ronald Jones These are both professional studio portraits, but without views of the card
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mounts or photographer details to investigate, we must date them from the visual images – essentially, from your ancestor’s appearance. Nathaniel wears smart fashionable dress in both photographs, not his railway uniform, so their context seems to be personal, rather than work-related. In the close-up portrait, his stylish threepiece lounge suit is typical of the 1880s and early 1890s. Key dating details include his jacket and waistcoat buttoning high with small, neat lapels, and a starched winged
late-Victorian collar accessorised with a formal bow tie. He looks significantly older, thinner and with greying hair, in the threequarter-length photograph. Here he wears the more relaxed lounge suit of the early 1900s/ pre-First World War era, with a modern shirt collar and knotted tie. Unless other plausible occasions occur to you, wider photographic evidence suggests that your great grandfather may have had these photographs taken to record milestone birthdays. Jayne Shrimpton
1LANDMARK OCCASION Judging from Nathaniel’s appearance and the date range, I would suggest that this photograph may have been taken in 1893 to celebrate his landmark 40th birthday.
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2FASHIONABLE ACCESSORY In the 1880s and early 1890s, men’s suits were often edged with silk braid binding, as seen here; a white handkerchief in the top pocket became a fashionable accessory.
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MILESTONE IMAGE
It is possible that your great grandfather had this photograph taken in order to mark his milestone 55th or 60th birthday in 1908 or 1913, or perhaps his retirement from work.
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4A MODERN LOOK
By around 1904–1905, this more modern, turned-down shirt collar and long knotted tie were usual for daywear, although collars remained heavily starched.
5EDWARDIAN LAPELS
Jacket lapels grew progressively longer during the early 1900s, and the shape and size of these lapels suggest a date in the mid-to-late Edwardian era.
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GEM FROM THE ARCHIVE
Casualty books, 1915–1918 Katherine Gwyn from the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies shares her love for the casualty books from the 1st Bucks Battalion. Interview by Rosemary Collins
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n 11 November 1918 the Allies and Germany agreed an Armistice, marking the end of the First World War. By that time, about six million British men had fought in the war, of whom 1.6 million were injured, 662,000 killed and 140,000 recorded missing. At the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies, a set of four casualty books of the 1st Bucks Battalion preserve the story of just a few of the men from the county who served, fighting on the Western Front from 1915 to 1917 and later in Italy. In this anniversary year, Katherine Gwyn, the centre’s community outreach and projects archivist, told us more about the priceless information the books hold.
Can You Describe The Casualty Books? The four volumes were created by the 1st Bucks Battalion to keep a log of what was happening to its soldiers. They cover details of individuals’ health, injuries, discipline and rank, as well as when they got promoted and when they received training. Many other battalions would have kept similar volumes, but these are the only ones that we
know to have survived in Buckinghamshire – I think this is because after the war these were preserved locally, rather than in central Army administration. It is frustrating that we have such good information on maybe several hundred individuals, but nothing for the majority of people who served in the Buckinghamshire regiments: the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, and the Royal Bucks Hussars.
How Are The Books Formatted? They’re laid out like a grid. Each chunk relates to an individual, and tells the story of their time with the 1st Bucks Battalion, line by line, incident by incident. Typically the first entry in a person’s log will describe the date and place they joined the regiment. Subsequent lines might include details of when
Visit Us The Centre For Buckinghamshire Studies a County Hall, Walton Street, Aylesbury, Bucks HP20 1UU t 01296 382587 e archives@buckscc. gov.uk w bit.ly/bucks-studies The centre is open Tuesdays to Thursdays, 9am–5.15pm, and on the first and third Saturday of each month, 9am–3.45pm, but book before you visit.
and influenza – conditions that you’d pick up when you’re living in really poor conditions close to lots and lots of people. The books record when the wound or illness started and how it progressed, so often you can see people get moved further back from the front line, from casualty clearing stations, to field hospitals, maybe to a hospital ship, and even to a military hospital in England, if the illness or wound was serious. Then you’ll get a date when they were fit and returned to active service. However, the books feature lots of abbreviations
‘People gravitate towards them, although the handwriting is tiny’
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they moved with their unit or regiment, and when they received specific training. Typically every entry will discuss a soldier’s health. Shell shock is mentioned, as are gunshot wounds and wounds from shrapnel, but also measles, scabies
and codes – you really need guidance to understand soldiers’ disciplinary records in particular.
Why Did You Choose The Casualty Books? I think they’re fantastic. I take these documents out to events with me, and people gravitate towards them, although the handwriting is tiny. We know that the books would have gone to the Western Front, and in all this chaos there was someone whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com
taking these precise notes while the world fell apart. The books contain a wealth of information for family historians too. If we can find an entry for someone that they’re researching, it fills out the picture of what their relative was up to. The books remind you that it wasn’t all trench foot and gallantry at the Front – it was just a hard, hard life. There were often very mundane medical problems – things that we would think of as not whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com
very serious at all, like a cut that becomes infected – that suddenly become so serious and life-threatening that the soldier can’t serve any more, and has to go to hospital. You also get the date and usually cause of death, and often a grid reference to where soldiers were buried. It’s really useful. Because there are four volumes a person will start off in the first volume, and you trace them all the way through. It’s devastating when they’ve
endured so much, and die in 1917 or 1918.
What Other Documents Do You Have Relating To The First World War? We have quite a few personal collections, including letters and postcards home. We have records relating to the Royal Bucks Hussars and the Bucks Battalions of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, including trench logbooks for that latter group. We have photographs
of the Royal Bucks Hussars around the Middle East, and correspondence from the Phipps and the Crouch families, whose sons were all officers in the 1st Bucks Battalion, which gives an insight into life at home. In addition, readers might like to know that the Great War Buckinghamshire Project website at buckinghamcountry archive.daisy.websds.net shares the stories of people from the county during the war, at home and abroad. 51
RECORD MASTERCLASS
Electoral Registers
Annotated Documents 1
Thanks to a recent addition to the collections on Findmypast, these census substitutes have never been so easy to use, says Paul Blake he introduction of printed electoral registers in 1832, listing all those eligible to vote in national and local elections, was a major step forward in the democratic process. As the franchise widened, so more and more individuals were recorded, and electoral registers become a major resource after the last available census of 1911. Although electoral registers won’t give family historians their relatives’ ages or places of birth, they may indicate relationships and include
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those who had voted and for whom. This system lasted until 1872 when the Ballot Act introduced the secret ballot. There is therefore considerable overlap between electoral registers and poll books, which can sometimes be used in conjunction.
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Annual Registration The 1832 Representation of the People Act, better known as the Reform Act, introduced a system of voter registration in England and Wales. The separate Scottish Reform Act 1832 and Representation of the
‘There were “voters’ lists” for local and parliamentary elections’ unknown family members. Most importantly, they will show where an individual or family lived and indicate when changes of address occurred, and perhaps changes of fortune. Until a few years ago, using electoral registers was difficult and tedious. However, many registers have now been digitised and made available online, the most recent being September’s addition of 53 million enhanced entries for 1920–1932 on Findmypast. From about 1700, published poll books listed 56
People (Ireland) Act 1832 introduced similar legislation in those countries. An annual register of electors was now compiled and printed. Originally, there were different ‘voters’ lists’ for local and parliamentary elections. Burgess rolls listed people entitled to vote in local government elections; parliamentary registers listed those entitled to vote in parliamentary elections; and parochial registers listed those entitled to vote in elections to the parish council. Only from 1878 was a single register permitted
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OLLING DISTRICT ND WARD
These are listed at the head of every page. Note that the wards are usually arranged in alphabetical order. A street index is often at the front.
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AMES OF ELECTORS
Voters’ names are provided surname first, then first name and middle name (although sometimes just initials). No women are included in the 1913 example, unlike that for 1931.
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Entries in the electoral register covering Fourth Avenue and George Street in Hove, Sussex, which were included in Morris Ward, East Hove Polling District, for 1913 and 1931. These records from the British Library have been digitised and are available on Findmypast
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LACE OF ABODE
Roads, streets and so on are given in alphabetical order under each ward. House numbers may be consecutive, or arranged with the odd numbers first followed by the even numbers.
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ATURE OF QUALIFICATION
Abbreviations appear in registers after 1918, including ‘–’: the person was ineligible to vote; ‘J’: they were eligible for jury service; ‘R’: residence qualification; ‘B’: business premises qualification; ‘O’: occupational qualification; ‘D’: they had a qualification through their spouse’s occupation; and ‘NM’: they were a member of the military. A ‘w’ is appended when the registered person is a woman.
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ESCRIPTION OF UALIFYING PROPERTY
Usually the same as place of abode, but some voters did not live in the property that qualified them to vote.
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ASYLUM RECORDS
FOCUS ON
Asylum Records Michelle Higgs explains how to use these poignant documents to gain detailed insights into the life of a mentally ill ancestor
Patients at Bethlem Hospital in London, c1860
he mental health of our forebears was just as fragile as our own. Common problems such as bereavement, the breakdown of a marriage, financial worries and stress caused by overwork could spiral out of control, leading to debilitating mental illness. However, until the middle of the 18th century London’s Bethlem Hospital
WELLCOME COLLECTION
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(colloquially known as Bedlam) was the UK’s only public lunatic asylum. There
Most ‘lunatics’ were cared for by their families or the parish, and were often locked
for pauper patients. After the 1845 Lunatic Asylums and Pauper Lunatics Act, these asylums were made compulsory. Five years later, 24 such institutions had been founded to accommodate an average of about 300 lunatics each. By 1890 the number had increased to 66 asylums, with capacity for more than 800 lunatics in each. Most ‘harmless’ lunatics were
‘Private “madhouses” had ’ a reputation for profiteering were private ‘madhouses’ for those who could afford to pay for their treatment, but they had a reputation for profiteering and neglect.
up if thought dangerous. From 1808 local authorities in England and Wales were encouraged to build county lunatic asylums
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