Newsletter – 8th
February 2022
Problems with online will ordering resolved?
RootsTech 2022: registrations open
Poor Law, Settlement Records, and Workhouses
How the census knocked down a 'brick wall'
Congratulations to our winners!
Dates fixed for virtual events
Camilla and the 70th anniversary
The LostCousins
newsletter is usually published 2 or 3 times a month. To access the previous issue
(dated 29th January) click here; to find earlier articles use the customised Google search between
this paragraph and the next (it searches ALL of the newsletters since February
2009, so you don't need to keep copies):
To go to the main
LostCousins website click the logo at the top of this newsletter. If you're not
already a member, do join - it's FREE, and you'll get an email to alert you
whenever there's a new edition of this newsletter available!
Problems with online will ordering resolved?
The
website of the Probate Service, which normally allows online ordering and
online delivery of wills for England & Wales from 1858 to date), has been out
of action for well over a week. Although no dates for the restoration of the
service have been shown when I've visited, I'm told by others that there have
been dates shown in the past, but they have proven to be optimistic.
I
don’t have any contacts in the Probate Service, so yesterday afternoon I called
the Ministry of Justice Press Office – I was informed that the site was
undergoing a technical upgrade, and when I checked today it was back online
with an improved interface (compared to when I last ordered a will about a
month ago).
You'll
find the website here, but you
will probably find, as I did, that you need to reset your password - the site now requires
stronger passwords than were allowed previously. If you have any comments on the site please
don't send them to me, instead post them here on the LostCousins Forum.
RootsTech 2022: registrations open
RootsTech
is taking place online between 3rd-5th March, and registrations are now open at
FamilySearch.
There's
a tendency to assume that it's always men who commit bigamy, but the only
example I've found in my tree so far is of Violet McDonald, who married my 4th
cousin twice removed Henry Barnett Keehner in 1935, then
married again on Boxing Day 1944 even though her first husband was still alive.
Violet was convicted the following year and sent to prison for 6 months.
However,
some who committed bigamy did so unknowingly, and many were never charged. In Escaping
detection: illegal second marriages and the crime of bigamy Professor
Rebecca Probert reviews hundreds of examples of bigamy (largely provided by LostCousins
members from their own trees) to provide insight into the minds of the perpetrators.
The
article has just been published in the Journal of Genealogy and Family
History, and you can download it in PDF format if you follow this link
– it's highly recommended, even if you haven't yet found any bigamists in your
tree.
Tip:
if you’re hoping to attend one of Professor Probert's Zoom presentations it’s a
good idea to read this article in advance.
Poor Law, Settlement Records, and Workhouses
This
month's free podcast from AGRA (the
Association of Genealogists & Researchers in Archives) offers a wonderful
insight into an area that would have affected most families at one time or
another. The discussion between four experts is moderated by Sarah Williams,
editor of Who Do You Think You Are? magazine.
When
my great-great grandfather, William John Pepperell, died of diabetes a few days
before Christmas 1885 his wife was left with children aged 19, 16, 14, 11, 6, 3
and 8 months. Three older children had married, one of them my
great-grandmother; another child had died 3 years earlier, at the age of 5.
My
great-great grandmother Mary Ann (née Burns, born Byrnes) had spent time in the
workhouse herself after her parents and paternal grandparents all died between
1847-49; at the time of the 1851 Census she and her
younger sister Ellen were in Christ Church workhouse in Mile End New Town. Both
girls survived their experience, married and had a
family: Mary Ann in London, Ellen in Australia.
This
may have made it easier for my ancestor to put some of her own children in the workhouse
when she couldn't possibly look after them all herself. Edward, the 6 year-old, and Arthur, the 3 year-old, can be found in Forest
Gate District poor schools in the 1891 Census. By the time of the 1901 Census they were both in employment and supporting their
mother who died just 16 days later from abdominal cancer.
Listening
to the AGRA podcast made me
realise that workhouses weren't always quite as bad as the ones we read about
in Dickens' novels – and as it's only just over half an hour long I hope you'll
also find the time. If you follow the link you'll also
have access to 11 other free podcasts covering a wide range of topics.
Tip:
although the name 'podcast' hints that you need an iPod or similar device to
listen, you can use almost any device – including a computer, tablet, or
smartphone.
In
the last issue I mentioned that the 1921 Census was postponed on 14th April,
just 10 days before the intended date. You'd expect, therefore, that census forms
intended for overseas military bases would have been despatched before the
announcement of the postponement.
However this schedule completed in respect of the
21st Brigade Royal Field Artillery, based in Agra, India is signed and dated in
August:
©
Crown Copyright Images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London,
England; used by kind permission of Findmypast
Have
you seen any examples of very late dates?
This
article
on the Findmypast blog provides some interesting insights into the process of
taking the census – it's well worth a read.
How the census knocked down a 'brick wall'
Bernadette
was hoping that the 1921 Census would knock down her oldest 'brick wall' – and it
did, but not in the way she expected!
"My story begins in 1984 after the death
of my dad, Bernard. He had been a hardworking man who looked after us and our mum
really well, but never shared anything with us about
his life and experiences.
"He was brought up in Evesham with his
two sisters and brother, but their father had died of TB in 1914 when my dad
was only 8 years old. I had information from a family member that after our grandfather’s
death, dad and his younger sister Edna were put into an orphanage, and his
older sister and brother into service. I did trace our grandmother and found out
she had moved back to Birmingham – so assumed that is where the orphanage was, and
contacted as many as I could find, but with no luck.
"I was about to give up ever finding the
orphanage, then remembered one of Peter’s tips was – never give up! That's when
I realised that the 1921 Census might provide a useful clue.
"The day it was released on Findmypast I
looked up dad’s name with his date of birth. He was on there, but not in the orphanage
as I had hoped – he was living with his mother; at 14 years and 6 months old he
was working as a barber's assistant.
"I was a little disappointed at first,
but then I searched for dad’s sister Edna and she was
there as an inmate in Müllers Orphanage, Bristol. A Google search revealed that
the orphanage which has now turned into a museum run by a charitable trust.
"I sent them an email asking if they had
any information on Bernard and Edna Cashmore - they confirmed that my dad and
his sister were admitted into their care on 11th October 1915. Even better, they
had records of their stay still in their archives which I could purchase – and now
I am waiting for them to arrive!"
Well
done, Bernadette – your persistence paid off. While every 'brick wall' is
different, few come tumbling down of their own accord, and instead we have to look for the chinks of light from cracks that we might
just be able to prise open.
.
In
my newsletter dated 15th December I wrote about the Family Photo Competition being
run by Who Do You Think You Are? magazine and warned that entries closed
the following day.
Some
of you must have acted very quickly because when the names of the winners of
the 6 categories were announced I was delighted to note that at least 3 of the
6 winners were LostCousins members – well done! You can see all
of the prize-winning photos here.
In
the circumstances I thought you might like to know about another photo competition,
one that's being run by the British Association for Local History (BALH). I'm a
member, but anyone can enter, though I suspect that they're only looking for
British photos. The closing date is 31st March, and the photos you submit (you
can enter up to 3) must have been taken since 1st January 2020. You'll find all
the details here.
Congratulations to our winners!
It's
not easy running a competition over the Christmas and New Year period when many
other organisations shut up shop for the holidays, and it was especially challenging
this year because the launch of the 1921 England & Wales Census came right
in the middle.
However,
from a personal point of view this year's competition has been more rewarding
than ever before – not because I was one of the hundreds of lucky members to
find a 'lost cousin', but because I have had the pleasure of telling hundreds of
people that they have won a prize. This was made possible by the introduction of
the My Prizes page, which has allowed members to indicate which of the
prizes on offer were of most interest and made it feasible to distribute far more
prizes than in previous years.
There
are lots of prizes still to be awarded, but I thought you'll like to know who
won
12 month Diamond
subscription to The Genealogist worth £139.99
One
of the most popular prizes on offer this year, this subscription generously donated
by The Genealogist was won by Karin, who lives in England. I bet she'll be
using the tithe records and tithe maps to find out more about where her ancestors
lived.
12 month British Newspaper
Archive subscription worth £79.99
Janet
in Melbourne, Australia won this subscription kindly donated by Findmypast and
the British Newspaper Archive – she's hoping to find out more about the day to
day lives of her ancestors. As you can imagine, this was another prize that was
much sought after.
One-to-one 'brick
wall' busting session with Sarah Williams
Linda
in Ireland has won the opportunity to knock down one of her 'brick walls' with
the help of the editor of Who Do You Think You Are? magazine. Many
thanks to Sarah Williams for donating her expert services – this was another
very popular prize.
Look
out for an exclusive Who Do You Think You Are? magazine subscription offer
– coming soon!
1921
Census Refund
When
the 1921 England & Wales Census launched on 6th January
I created an extra prize: one lucky member would receive from LostCousins a
full refund of the money they spent viewing images from the census. This prize
also went to a member who lives in England – Vanessa received £28.35, the cost
of 9 images.
Note:
this prize was funded by the commission received from Findmypast when members purchase
a 1921 image after clicking a LostCousins link. You can continue to support
LostCousins by clicking this link,
which will take you to the search page..
Zoom
presentations
Hundreds
of members have been invited to Zoom presentations, some of which have already
taken place – including my DNA for Christmas talk, and Chris Paton's
Burns Day presentation on Scottish Research Resources Before 1800. You
can read a report on the most recent event (with Baroness Scott) later in this
newsletter but first I'd like to draw you attention to the dates that have now
been fixed for events in February and early March…..
Dates fixed for virtual events
At
7pm (London time) on Saturday 5th March I will be interviewing author
Nathan Dylan Goodwin about his genealogical mysteries, and his characters – in particular Morton Farrier, 'the forensic genealogist'. If
you have previously indicated your interest but know now that you won't be able
to attend please alter the rating you have given on
your My Prizes page to show 1, and add a comment (eg
date inconvenient, timing doesn’t work).
The
demand from competition entrants to hear Professor Rebecca Probert speak and
answer questions about marriage law in England & Wales (and related issues
that affect family historians) has been so great that Professor Probert has
offered to deliver two talks, each followed by an opportunity for members of
the audience to ask questions. The talks are at different times to maximise the
chance that everyone who wins will be able to attend one of them, no matter
where in the world they live.
The
first will be at 4pm (London time) on Saturday 19th
February, the second at 10am on Saturday 26th February. If you
entered the competition (ie by
adding relatives to your My Ancestors page between 10th December 2021 and
31st January 2022) please indicate your interest in these events on your My
Prizes page. You won't be invited to attend both sessions, which will cover
broadly similar ground, but if you are available for both dates you can rate
both as 10 to maximise your chance of being invited to one of them.
Note:
as well as taking questions from the audience Professor Probert has invited
attendees to submit questions or topics in advance – please use the Comments
box against your preferred date.
It
seems a few people misunderstood how the My Prizes page works, and
ranked the prizes in order of preference, rather than giving them ratings from
1 (least interested) to 10 (most interested) as explained in the notes at the
top of the page. As a result one or two will have missed out on the prizes they
were most interested in – but it’s not too late to update the entries
for prizes which have yet to be awarded.
On Thursday morning I
had the pleasure of interviewing Baroness Scott of Needham Market in front of an
audience from around the world who had one thing in common – they had ancestors
from England and/or Wales, and had benefited from the
introduction of PDF copies of historic birth and death register entries by the
General Register Office.
It was a wide-ranging
discussion: we found out that despite having a title, Lady Scott is a family
historian just like you and me – and she doesn’t live in a castle or have a
coat of arms. She did, however, have a high-flying father – he was in the RAF.
More importantly, she
told us about her work as a Non-Executive Director of The National Archives, and explained how she came to be involved in the House
of Lords committee that, in 2004 proposed the updating of the procedures for
birth and death registration. We also learned how a chance meeting in the
corridors of power a decade later provided the opportunity to add an amendment
to the Deregulation Bill that had been received by the House of Lords from the
Commons – leading directly to the GRO's online indexes, the PDF trials that
many of us participated in, and the eventual establishment of a permanent PDF
service for birth and death entries.
As to the future… well,
it seems we all want the same thing: instant online access to historic register
entries, something that they've had in Scotland for many years. Perhaps we'll
get some good news after Lady Scott's next meeting with the GRO?
A
recent BBC article
about a man who has supposedly been driving without a licence for 70 years –
which prompted me to do some research into the history of driving licences.
Although the first driving licences were issued in the UK in 1903, the same
year that the first US states (Michigan and Missouri) required drivers to have
licenses, it was a long time before either country required drivers to take a
test.
Compulsory
driving tests were introduced in the UK on 1st June 1935, though drivers had
been able to test voluntarily since March of that year. However
anyone who had started driving before 1st April 1934 was exempt from the test –
and when the late Prince Philip was involved in minor crash at the age of 97 in
2019 some speculated whether he might have been exempt, as he had apparently
started driving cars at an early age and came to live in England in 1930 (though
he didn't buy his first car until 1940).
The
only person who can legally drive a car in the UK without a licence is Queen
Elizabeth. You can see examples of UK driving licences over the years in this PDF document
which I discovered online.
On
the website mentioned in the previous article I found this document which
details the dates on which vehicle registration numbers were first used – you
might find it useful if you're trying to date a photograph
.
Talking
of dating, it's not always easy to make out the date in a postmark. However, sometimes
you can get a rough idea from the price of the stamp, because the cost of
sending a postcard changed in 1906, 1918, 1921, and 1922 – as you can see from
this table.
On
the same site you'll find other postage prices that may help if you’re lucky
enough to have a letter in an envelope – and, of course, the stamp itself will
often be a clue (though bear in mind that stamps aren't usually issued for a
new monarch until after the coronation).
Camilla and the 70th anniversary
It
was all over the news – I am, of course, talking about the 70th anniversary of The
Archers, which was celebrated with a special scene recorded at Clarence
House in the presence of the Duchess of Cornwall, a self-confessed 'Archers addict'. You can find out more in this BBC article from
December.
The
Archers
also played a role in the early success of LostCousins – I contacted the actor Tim
Bentinck, better known as David Archer, and persuaded him to join. Aside from
his thespian credentials, Tim is a keen family historian and, like me, has been
known to dabble in computer programming. Perhaps less well known is that he is the
Earl of Portland, a title he inherited from his father.
I also met up at a country fair with Hedli Niklaus, who plays Kathy Perks; at the time she also
ran the Archers Addicts fan club – and we each promoted the other's site for a
while.
Note:
in less than 3 months' time we'll be celebrating the 18th Anniversary of
LostCousins – the coming of age of the website. Visually the site hasn't changed
very much over the years, but in terms of capability there's no comparison! If
there are any members of the Royal Family who would like to join in the
celebrations, please get in touch.
This is where any major updates and corrections will be
highlighted - if you think you've spotted an error first reload the newsletter
(press Ctrl-F5) then
check again before writing to me, in case someone else has beaten you to
it......
Peter Calver
Founder, LostCousins
© Copyright 2022 Peter Calver
Please do NOT copy or republish any part of this newsletter without permission - which is only granted in the most exceptional circumstances. However, you MAY link to this newsletter or any article in it without asking for permission - though why not invite other family historians to join LostCousins instead, since standard membership (which includes the newsletter), is FREE?
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