Newsletter – 14th
February 2023
R.I.P. Audrey Collins (1954-2023)
Do you remember what it
was like to research your tree in 2005?
Don’t order military
service records just yet!
Save on subscriptions
to Who Do You Think You Are? EXCLUSIVE OFFER
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R.I.P. Audrey Collins (1954-2023)
I
first met Audrey Collins at the Victoria & Albert Museum on 27th
October 2005. You might wonder how I can be so precise about the date and
location – it’s because we met at the launch party for the 1851 England &
Wales census, which had just gone online at Ancestry.
There
were lots of other guests, including Natalie Ceeney,
the new Chief Executive of the National Archives, and the actor and presenter Tony (now Sir
Anthony) Robinson – with whom I had a long chat. But it was Audrey who stood out
from the crowd – she was so knowledgeable, especially when it came to one of my
pet topics, the General Register Office.
When
the news came last week that Audrey had passed away after a short illness it
was as if an earthquake had rocked the genealogical community. Genealogist Dave
Annal was one of the first to post a tribute – he and Audrey co-wrote Birth, Marriage and Death Records: A Guide for
Family Historians (I ordered my copy even before it was published in
2012, and it has been on my bookshelf ever since).
You
can read some of the tributes to Audrey here – she will
be sorely missed.
I
eventually wrote a very detailed guide to the 1939 Register (you’ll find it here), but when
the 1939 Register for England & Wales was first released in 2015 there was
only one person in the country who could answer some of my questions – that was
Audrey Collins at the National Archives.
You
can see three of the articles that Audrey wrote about the 1939 Register (as
well as articles on many other topics) if you follow this link.
Do you remember what it was like to research your tree in
2005?
Reading
an email I sent to LostCousins members in October 2005
I was struck by how things have changed. I was reminded that in those days an
Ancestry subscription cost just £69.95 – which sounded like a bargain until I
realised that in 2005 the main British records on the Ancestry site were the
England & Wales censuses from 1851-1901. The 1911 and 1921 censuses had yet
to be released, and the 1841 Census was missing from Ancestry’s collection.
What
else was missing? Frankly, most of the resources you and I are most likely to
use today had yet to be added – there were no parish registers (just a modest
collection of transcribed entries), no Poor Law records, no electoral
registers, no educational records to speak of, and no Scottish censuses. If there
were any military or immigration records they didn’t merit
a mention in my Autumn 2005 newsletter, so clearly the enormous record sets we
can search nowadays were added later. Indeed, I’m not sure you could even search
the GRO BMD indexes at Ancestry in those days.
When
you think about it, it makes the current price of £69.99 for a six-month
Ancestry UK & Ireland subscription seem very reasonable, especially when
you consider that most prices have doubled since 2005 (the LostCousins
subscription, still just £10 a year, is one of the few things that haven’t
changed).
In
1843 James Maitland Balfour wrote a series of love letters to his future wife,
Lady Blanche Mary Harriet Gascoyne Cecil, daughter of the 2nd Marquess
of Salisbury. Extracts from these letters have been published today, Valentine’s
Day, on the National Records of Scotland website – you’ll find the article here.
Although
the marriage was a fairly short one as Balfour died of
TB in 1856, they had 8 children of whom one, Arthur Balfour, was Prime Minister
between 1902 and 1905 (and Foreign Minister between 1916 and 1919). Lady Blanche’s
brother Robert was also a future Prime Minister – as the 3rd
Marquess of Salisbury he held the post three times between 1885-1902, and on
the last occasion it was his nephew Arthur who succeeded him.
Note:
today is our 20th Wedding Anniversary, but I can’t recall ever
sending my wife a love letter – we didn’t have that sort of courtship, and I don’t
suppose many people do in the 21st century. Of course, we’ve
exchanged many cards over the years, most of which are preserved for posterity,
but we’ve never been apart long enough to send each other letters. Maybe that’s
a good thing?
On
Saturday morning nearly 70 entrants in my recent competition were entranced by
Professor Rebecca Probert as she spoke about marriage law as it affects
genealogists. I’ve heard Professor Probert speak many times, but every time I
learn something new – not least because of the interesting questions from the
audience.
One
fascinating case that hasn’t cropped up at any of the talks I’ve attended is that
of Martha Cottam, whose story was recounted by Audrey Collins in this 2012 article on
the National Archives website.
Don’t
order military service records just yet!
Obtaining
military records from the Ministry of Defence has always been an expensive and
lengthy exercise – at many times the waiting list has been so long that by the
time a request reached the top of the pile the cheque in payment was out of
date, resulting in even more delay.
It
has always been free of an ex-serviceman or their spouse to obtain their file,
but from 1st April it is going to be free for everyone (although
there are some restrictions on who can place an order).
Follow
this link
to see what records are available and find out more about the process.
Over
1200 members entered this year’s competition, which ended on 31st
January. More than 600 prizes were awarded – most of them opportunities to
attend exclusive online events – but there was just one each of the Star Prizes.
Findmypast generously donated a
12 month Premium Subscription, the only subscription which includes the 1921
Census – it was won by Suzanne in Shropshire.
A
12 month Diamond Subscription generously
donated by The Genealogist was won by Val in Cheshire who will be
attending Mark Bayley’s talk on Monday morning to find out more about Map Explorer.
Professional
genealogist and author Dr Janet Few
generously donated a ‘brick wall’ busting session, which was won by Jill in
Canada.
Dorothy
in Canada won the Ancestry US DNA kit generously donated by Terri,
whilst the Ancestry UK DNA kit that I donated went to Angela in Essex.
The
chance to have a will transcribed by professional genealogist Dave Annal
was won by Andrew in Nottinghamshire – the only male contestant to win a Star
Prize.
Finally,
Gayle in Australia won the opportunity to Reach Out through my newsletter
– I’ll be interested to find out how LostCousins members can help!
Many
thanks to all those who entered, but also to the donors – without whom there
would have been no competition. And thanks to the speakers who gave exclusive
talks or interviews: Wendy Percival, the author of the Esme Quentin genealogical mysteries, Professor
Rebecca Probert, author of Marriage Law
for Genealogists, Else Churchill from the Society of Genealogists (who
will be speaking this Friday), and Mark Bayley from The Genealogist (who will
be speaking on Monday of next week). I’d also like to thank the team from A Few Forgotten Women
who told us about their fascinating project.
Of
course, the real winners from the competition are the hundreds of members who made
connections with fellow researchers who share their ancestors, and have not
only been able to share information about past research, but will – in many
cases – be collaborating on future research.
You
can find your ‘lost cousins’ at any time of the year – you don’t need to wait
for the next competition. Indeed, waiting could be a mistake: after all, none of
us are getting any younger…..
Zoom
is rather like DNA – genealogists either love it, or they haven’t tried it. Which
is a great shame, because over the past 3 years Zoom has wrought one of the
greatest changes ever to the genealogy world.
Of
course, Zoom is not the same as meeting in person – actually it's
far better! It eliminates the problems of distance, travelling time, and travel
cost for speakers as well as attendees, and generally there's more time for questions
than would be possible at a conference or exhibition where there is a fixed
schedule.
For
people in different countries, or with mobility issues, sickness, or vulnerabilities
it allows them to listen to, and ask questions of, speakers they might
otherwise never hear live.
Whilst
there may not be an opportunity to talk privately with a speaker, or to chat
with other attendees, that's only because nobody has asked for this - Zoom can
handle this as well!
Save on subscriptions to Who Do You Think You Are?
EXCLUSIVE OFFER
I'm
delighted to say I've once again been able to persuade Who Do You Think You
Are? magazine to organise an exclusive offer for LostCousins members. I've
been a reader ever since issue 1, and I can tell you from personal experience
that every issue is packed with advice on how to research your family tree,
including how to track down online records, how to get more from DNA tests, and
the ever-popular readers' stories. Naturally you also get to look
behind-the-scenes of the popular Who Do You Think You Are? TV series.
There's
an extra special introductory offer for members in the UK, but there are also offers
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take advantage of any of these deals (and to support LostCousins) please follow
this link.
I
first met Trevor Rix, founder of TWR Computing (the first specialist supplier
of family history software in the UK), at a Suffolk Family History Society
event – possibly the Open Day at Mildenhall in May 2004, which was also when I
met my 3rd cousin Steve for the first time (we’ve collaborated ever
since).
A
few years later Trevor retired (TWR is now part of My History), but we still bump into
each other – and of course, like most experienced family historians he’s a LostCousins
member. Recently he drew my attention to this 1881 Census entry:
© Crown Copyright Image reproduced by courtesy of The
National Archives, London, England and by permission of Ancestry
The
Public Record Office was the forerunner to The National Archives – so finding
someone in the census who was a transcriber for the body that now holds all of the surviving historic censuses for England &
Wales is rather special!
I
expect you’re wondering whether my full-fibre upgrade, due on 19th December,
is working yet. Sadly it isn’t, even though it is now just over 8 weeks since
the Openreach engineer fitted the box on my study wall – but after numerous
phone calls I’ve been told that something may happen this week. Fingers crossed!
Another
long-running saga may be coming to end – I’ve received an email from Asda
telling me that a refund has now been issued for the two Classic Panettones
that weren’t delivered on 28th November. Indeed, if the email is to
be believed they’re also refunding the cost of the two that were delivered,
though given the hours I’ve spent on the phone I’d hardly class it as a success!
But
now I have to go and cook tonight’s meal – a special
20th Anniversary dinner of Chateaubriand with Sauce Bearnaise, new
potatoes, asparagus, mange tout, and mushrooms. I’ll be opening a bottle of
2006 Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz which cost me £6
about 15 years ago – a perfect accompaniment.
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......
I’ll be back soon with more news and views from the world of
genealogy – and in the meantime I look forward to seeing some of you at Else
Churchill’s talk on Friday, or Mark Bayley’s presentation on Monday.
Peter Calver
Founder, LostCousins
© Copyright 2023 Peter Calver
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