Newsletter
- 17th April 2014
Easter
offer: save £5 at Genes Reunited ENDS MONDAY
Ancestry.co.uk
offer free access to 1901 & 1911 Censuses ENDS
MONDAY
2021 Census still under threat?
Post-1858
wills to cost 66% more
Budget
could lead to Ancestry price hike
Ancestry
add Manchester non-conformist records
Top genealogist
backs BMD petition
London
Gazette site update causes problems
Findmypast's
new site - mismanaged or misunderstood?
How
to get the best from findmypast
Shropshire
parish registers online soon
Land
Registry publishes 1862 registers
My ancestors were... not on the census!
Historical directories free online
Why
did people fear the Victorian workhouse?
British
Library's extensive World War 1 resources
Did your
military ancestor have "distinguishing marks"?
British
Newspaper Archive slashes cost of monthly subscription
The LostCousins newsletter is
usually published fortnightly. To access the previous newsletter (dated 5th
April) click here, for an index to articles
from 2009-10 click here, for
a list of articles from 2011 click here and for a
list of articles from 2012-13 click here.
Whenever possible links are
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Easter offer: save £5
at Genes Reunited ENDS
MONDAY
From Good Friday 18th April until Easter
Monday 22nd April you can save £5 on a 12 month Standard subscription to Genes
Reunited when you click here and use the exclusive
discount code SAVE5LC (in
effect you're getting 12 months for the price of 6).
Note:
this offer applies to new subscriptions only
A Standard subscription allows you to
search for other Genes Reunited members who share your ancestors and connect
with them - you also get 50 credits worth £5 that you can use to access the 550
million historic records including censuses, BMD indexes, military records, and
more.
Ancestry.co.uk
offer free access to 1901 & 1911 Censuses ENDS MONDAY
Over the same period you can get free
access to some of Ancestry's key datasets, including the 1901 and 1911 Census,
WW1 military records, GRO indexes, and the National Probate Calendar - just
click here.
2021 Census still under threat?
Perhaps naively, I assumed that the
Government would routinely accept the recommendation of the National
Statistician following the extensive consultation - but the all-party House of
Commons Public Administration Committee clearly isn't so sure, because they've
just published a report
urging the Government not to scrap the traditional census.
One aspect they didn't pick up on was
the way in which the Office of National Statistics has grossly underestimated
the potential savings from switching to an online census - there's surely no
way that it could cost nearly £1 billion, or more than £30 per household?
Note:
in Scotland preparations for the 2021 Census are going ahead, as you can see here.
Post-1858 wills to cost
66% more
From Tuesday the cost of copy wills is
going up from £6 to £10, a swingeing increase of 66%. However the Probate
Service website
still shows the old price - so I reckon that if you send in a postal
application before Tuesday you should escape the price increase.
Budget could lead to
Ancestry price hike
Changes in this year's UK budget could
lead to increases in the cost of Ancestry.co.uk
subscriptions and electronic books. Both Ancestry and Amazon
have their European head offices in Luxembourg, where the rate of VAT for
digital downloads is 15% (the rate for ebooks is only
3%), but changes proposed in the budget could lead to a uniform 20% rate being
charged.
Fortunately most of the ebooks I recommend are very cheap, so in most cases any
price increases will be pennies, not pounds. For example, the two excellent genealogical
mysteries mentioned in my last newsletters, A
Habit of Dying and The
Marriage Certificate are £2.34 and 99p respectively at the moment.
Purchasers outside the EU won't be
affected.
Ancestry add
Manchester non-conformist records
Ancestry.co.uk have
this week added nearly 400,000 non-conformist records from the Manchester area;
the links below will take you to the relevant search pages:
Manchester
non-conformist births & baptisms 1758-1912
Manchester
non-conformist marriages 1758-1937
Manchester
non-conformist deaths & burials 1758-1987
Top genealogist backs
BMD petition
After I mentioned in my last newsletter
the petition to make historic BMD registers for England & Wales available
online, the number of signatories more than doubled - but the target of 100,000
signatories is still a long, long way off.
Now top genealogist Else Churchill has
given her backing in an article in the May 2014 issue of Your Family Tree. Else was not only one of the top speakers at Genealogy in the Sunshine last month,
she's also the genealogist at the Society of Genealogists - and you
can't get more prestigious than that!
Only UK residents and UK citizens can
sign the petition but - and this is the good news - you don't have to be a
family historian. If every family historian who signs the petition can persuade
friends and members of their family to sign the target will soon be reached!
You'll find the petition here.
London Gazette
site update causes problems
Findmypast aren't the only people to
cause consternation by changing their site - the London Gazette now has a new website
which "has been digitally transformed, both inside and out, to deliver a
more feature and functionality rich resource for all of its customers".
Supposedly all of their articles have been recategorised,
going right back to 1665 - but if you search for wills it only lists the last
10 years.
Nevertheless, once it's working properly
it could make it easier for family historians to find the articles they're
looking for - let's hope so!
Findmypast's new site
- mismanaged or misunderstood?
There's little doubt that findmypast.co.uk's transition to a new-style site with a
new-style search was mismanaged - the fact that they've spent the past month
fending off complaints and been forced to set up a feedback
forum is testimony to that.
At the same time there's no doubt that
the changes were made with the best of intentions - clearly they wouldn't have
invested hundreds of thousands of pounds in new systems if they didn't believe
that they were creating a better site
for users like you and me.
When the new site first launched I was,
like many of you, extremely angry - and for a week I wouldn't use findmypast at
all unless I couldn't avoid it. But then I remembered that I'd been through all
this before - first when FamilySearch launched their new site, and then again
when Ancestry introduced their new search. I realised then that, like it or
not, I'd have to figure out how to get the best out of the new findmypast site
- because otherwise I'd be letting you
down.
The best way for me to learn was to research
my own tree - so I picked on my East Kent ancestors. I'd done some research
when findmypast first launched their indexed transcriptions of the Canterbury
Cathedral Archives a year ago, but on the old site it was more difficult than
it should have been to search for parish register entries - for example, you
couldn't specify the name of a spouse or parent.
But the new site is very different - and
whilst it took me a while to figure out how those differences could work to my
advantage, it wasn't long before I'd broken down not one but TWO 'brick walls'!
I'd also found a possible link to a
Canterbury carpenter who in 1570 charged 8 shillings for "11 joyned fformes ffor ye aldermenn to set on at
the bulstak" -
which, if confirmed, will make him the earliest ancestor on my tree so far.
Despite these successes I still don't
consider myself an expert on the new site - which is, in any case, still
evolving as findmypast implement suggestions made by users through the feedback
forum - but I thought it would be useful to pass on some tips that I've
picked up during my research......
How to get the
best from findmypast
There were two ways of searching records
at the old findmypast site - one was to navigate to a specific collection or
record set, the other was to start with an All Records search. The problem with
the All Records search was that the search form was very basic - so I hardly
ever used it.
At the new site there are at least three
levels of search: you can search All Records, you can search a particular
record type (eg Census, land and surveys), or you can
search a specific record set (eg 1841 Census). Each level
offers a different search form - the most basic version is presented when you
choose Search all records from the
drop-down menu:
There aren't many occasions when I'd
want to use a search form as basic as that, but I can imagine that for
beginners it's less daunting. However, if you choose a specific record type
from the dropdown menu you'll get a form with many more fields, for example:
The fields on
this intermediate level form largely reflect the underlying data (whilst the
year of death doesn't appear in any of the records it provides an upper bound
so that you're not shown records that are irrelevant).
For the most
detailed search form it's necessary to search a specific record set. For
example, if you search the 1851 Census you'll be presented with this search
form:
Note that you can search using the
census references, by occupation, by parish - in fact by almost any combination
of data (other than relationship to head of household). At the old site you
could search using personal information, by address, or using census references
- but you couldn't combine any two of those, let alone all three. This really
does represent an improvement - I can remember how tedious it was looking at
every house in a street trying to find the name I was looking for.
It's not perfect - findmypast still need
to refine the address search - but then the old site wasn't perfect either. And
I don't understand why you can specify another household member when you use
the Census, land & surveys form,
but not when you target a specific census - I suspect it's an oversight (or
that it's work-in-progress).
Now let's look at parish records. If you
choose Birth, marriage, death and parish
records from the dropdown menu you'll be presented with this form:
The keywords
field allows you to specify a mother's maiden name, a spouse's surname, or a
parent's forename - but if you narrow down your search you'll be presented with
additional fields which enable you to be more precise:
Notice that, because I've limited my
search to births and baptisms, Mother's
Maiden Name has been added to the form. If I go further, and restrict
myself to baptisms in the Canterbury Cathedral Archives I get an even better
form:
I could still suggest some improvements
- I'm never satisfied - but I have to grudgingly admit that, so far as parish
records are concerned, what's on offer at the new site already seems to be an
improvement on the old site.
It's difficult for me to gauge how much
of this functionality was available from launch (but hidden) and how much has
been added since - but either way the site is proving a lot more capable than
when I first tested it. My hope is that findmypast will continue to improve it
so that it not only does what I want, but also what you want - which is why it's important to continue posting your comments
on the feedback
forum.
Tip:
follow the link in the next article to find a specific record set.
Shropshire parish
registers online soon
It's likely that before the end of April
parish registers for Shropshire will be online at findmypast. Click here
to search the A-Z index of record sets at findmypast.
Note:
Shropshire Archives have new opening hours - you can see details here.
Land Registry
publishes 1862 registers
The Land Registry has digitised and published
online historic land registrations dating from the years following 1862, when
the first Land Registry Act was passed. Registration was voluntary - and in most areas
remained so until the end of the 20th century - so just under
2000 properties in England & Wales are recorded. Click here to
search the records - unlike more modern records they are free.
I found an entry relating to property
owned by The Right Honourable Lady Victoria Catherine Mary Pole Tylney Long Wellesley - her mother had been courted by the
future King William IV, and was the richest woman in England before she married
the Duke of Wellington's nephew, a dissolute spendthrift whose antics led the Chelmsford Chronicle to comment after
his death that "the mockery of heraldry was never more displayed than in
the case of this unworthy representative of the honour of the elder branch of the House of
Wellesley".
The chances of finding a property that
your ancestors owned is small, but you might learn something quite unexpected -
as I did when researching Lady Victoria. It transpired that her parents had
once owned a magnificent mansion just a few miles from where I grew up - but
the enormous house at Wanstead Park was dismantled and sold to pay her father's
debts. It is said
that her mother's ghost still haunts the area....
Now that it's compulsory to register
property in England & Wales there's a risk that historic deeds will be
destroyed, as LostCousins member Nicola relates:
"A few years back I decided that after over 20
years I had had all I could take of living and working in London and decided
that I would move closer to my brother on the Lincolnshire coast.
"After a prolonged flirtation with my own version
of DIY SOS, I put the house on the market. As it was London, and before the
recession, the house quickly sold, and I soon found myself spending time with
my solicitor, sorting out the sale. As we were talking she mentioned that the
ownership of the house was now determined by an electronic register and that
the deeds were no longer proof of ownership, so when the sale went through she
said she would arrange for the deeds to be destroyed. I was horrified - the
deeds are a historical document and should be preserved!
"As a family historian I felt sure that at some
point in the future, someone could be looking for information about at least
one of the people who had owned the house so I asked the solicitor if I could
get the paper deeds when the sale was complete. Well - a couple of months later
the sale completed and I became the custodian of the deeds of the first house I
ever owned.
"I stayed with my brother until I found a new house
so it was 3 months later when I completed on my new house. I was very quick to point out to the solicitor
I was using for the purchase that I wanted the paper deeds for the property,
and on completion I got my second set of deeds.
"Since I moved in they have been sitting in a
cupboard most of the time, but, two weeks ago I wanted to check on the
ownership of one of the fences on the property so I got out the deeds for my
current house to see if it was referenced. Going through the deeds made me
revisit what I should do with the deeds.
They are probably not going to be a lot of interest to the family and
unless I arrange something they will probably just be thrown out when I die. I
decided it was time to establish where they should be lodged for future
generations to view. I thought that this would probably be the nearest record
offices to the properties but wasn’t sure, so I asked Peter at Lost Cousins to see
if he had any suggestions - and he came back with the same answer.
"A little hunting on the Internet was followed by
emails to Lincolnshire County Council and Lewisham’s Local Studies Group - and
I now know where the deeds will be going. At this time it is my intention to
bequeath the deeds to the relevant authority. I haven’t put it in the will yet,
but I have made sure that my next of kin knows - just in case. If I can scan
all the documents, I may get the deeds to them sooner, but I couldn’t bear to think
of them being destroyed.
"Perhaps you could preserve your deeds for future generations too?"
The Children's Employment Commission
reported in 1842 on the appalling conditions in which many children worked, and
you may recall that in January I wrote
about children in factories, and linked to a copy of the Appendix which
included interviews with about 1500 children, all of whom were identified by
name and age. I wonder if you found any of your relatives in that report?
An earlier report from the Royal
Commission focused on children who worked in the mining industry. For example,
George Wintle aged 10 had worked at the Parkend Coal Works for about a year and a half when he was
interviewed in March 1841. He worked underground from 6am to 6pm with a half
hour break for breakfast and one hour for a lunch of bread and cheese - for
this he earned just 6 shillings a week (which was paid to his father).
According to the 1841 Census his father and three older brothers were also
miners.
In that particular colliery there were
between 100 and 150 boys, some as young as 6 or 7. George wasn't the lowest
paid by any means - some got just 7d a day (equivalent to £2.30 in today's
money).
You'll find transcriptions of the
investigations here
- many thanks to Keith, who drew them to my attention, and to Lancashire
historian Ian Winstanley, who transcribed them.
My ancestors
were... not on the census!
We've all encountered this problem -
someone who ought to be on the census simply isn't there. But now there's hope
- Roy Stockdill, writer, lecturer, and experienced
family historian has put together a list of 15 useful tips to help track down
missing ancestors.
You can download them here from the website of Anguline Research Archives.
Note:
Roy Stockdill is not only a Master Craftsman of the
Guild of One-Name Studies, and a Trustee of the Society of Genealogists - he's
also the commissioning editor for the popular "My Ancestors Were..." series of books.
Historical
directories free online
For many years the Historical
Directories site run by the University of Leicester has been one of the links
on the My Links page at LostCousins,
but the original site has closed - you'll now find the directories here,
on the university's Special Collections
Online website. There are 675 directories in all, covering most of England
& Wales.
In Australia the city of Sydney has made
available online digitised copies of the Sands Sydney, Suburban and Country
Commercial Directory, which covers most years from 1858-1933 - you can search
them here
(thanks to Glenys for the tip).
Tip:
if you subscribed to The Genealogist under the offer
in my last newsletter it's worth noting that they have a collection of about 400 directories, including some from
Scotland and the USA.
Last month fishermen in the Baltic
recovered a bottle containing a message dated 1913, and asking for it to be
forwarded to the author's address in Berlin. The writer of the message died in
1946, but researchers managed to track down his grand-daughter, who was born
some years after his death.
You can read more in this article
on the BBC website.
Why did people fear
the Victorian workhouse?
On 12th May the National Archives
there's a free webinar at 4pm which will be of interest to those whose
ancestors ended up in the workhouse - or came close to it. There is limited
capacity but there was space when I checked just now - you can sign up here.
Note:
there's another TNA webinar on 11th June entitled " Tracing British
battalions or regiments during the First World War" - you'll find more
information here.
British Library's extensive
World War 1 resources
The British Library has extensive online
collection of information relating to World War 1, including more than 50
articles written by leading experts, photographs, maps, drawings, and teaching
resources. You'll find them here.
Did your military ancestor
have "distinguishing marks"?
I'd always thought that distinguishing
marks in military records referred to scars, tattoos, and the like - but as
you'll see from this book
excerpt they were actually awards for good conduct!
(Thanks to LostCousins member Adrian for
enlightening most of us on the SoG
mailing list.)
British Newspaper Archive
slashes cost of monthly subscription
Until recently it cost £29.95 to buy a
one month subscription to the British
Newspaper Archive - now the cost has been slashed to just £9.95 (with no
limit on the number of pages you can view - previously there was a limit of 600
pages).
Most family historians will still find
that a findmypast subscription offers better value - a monthly subscription is
the same price - but the search at the BNA site offers more features and
includes Ireland
Tip:
all findmypast and British Newspaper Archive subscriptions are continuous -
they'll be renewed automatically when they expire unless you change your
account settings.
Lots of tips and offers this time - to
make up for last issue!
Colin wrote to me earlier this year to
tell me about his involvement as a member of the Royal Mail survey panel - now
that the cost of stamps has gone up again the value of the book of stamps they
send him each month has also increased! If it's something that might interest
you, follow this link.
Note:
although panellists are required in most areas, you could find that there
aren't any vacancies where you live - so please don't be too disappointed if
they turn you down.
Many of the attendees at Genealogy in the Sunshine last month
flew on Ryanair, and were delighted to discover that they could now take a
small extra bag on board, rather than having to cram their duty free purchases
into their hand luggage. But I have to say, it's a long time since I've bought
duty-free items when travelling within Europe - they might be cheaper than on
the High Street but the prices simply aren't competitive in the Internet age.
My favourite for perfumes and aftershave is AllBeauty (formerly known as Cheap Smells): if you
click here
you'll see some of the biggest savings currently on offer (some items are
discounted by over 50%!), and there's also an extra saving of up to £10 if you
buy over the Easter holiday weekend.
A lot of the technology tips I publish
comes from Computer
Shopper magazine, which I've subscribed to for many years. Until the
end of April you can get a one-year subscription for just £27 when you click here
(it's a lot less than I'm paying).
Over Easter you can save 10% on over 150
memory cards, USB memory sticks, portable hard drives and other devices at MyMemory when you click here
and enter the offer code at the checkout. Or no offer codes, just very low
prices (up to 90% off) at The
Book People - I've just ordered the Forgotten
Voices collection (£7.99 for 8 books with an RRP of almost £72) and am
tempted by Battlefields of the Great War
(£14.99 compared with the RRP of £50).
Finally, I heard today that GiffGaff have
once again taken 1st place in the Which? magazine survey of mobile providers. I can't remember which
LostCousins member recommended them to me a few years ago, but I'm certainly
glad that they did!
This is where I'll post any last minute
news, updates, or offers.
Thanks for taking the time to read this
newsletter - I hope you found it useful.
Peter Calver
Founder, LostCousins
© Copyright 2014 Peter Calver
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