Discover Your Ancestors

Issue 106

Print or Create PDF

A warm welcome to the February issue of Discover Your Ancestors Periodical, your monthly digital mix of family and social history.

As Covid evolves, we’re in hybrid times – some events in person, many still online. This month we welcome the Family History Show online back – see page 25 for details, grab your tickets at www.thefamilyhistoryshow.com and we’ll see you there! – but we also hope to be back in person at York in the summer. Keep an eye on the show website or in these pages for details as time goes on. You can also still get hold of our current printed publication in WHSmith or from discoveryourancestors.co.uk.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this latest Periodical!

Andrew Chapman, Editor.

Articles

Bigamy at Bristol

Reading through historic newspapers and court records, it’s hard to believe sometimes that there was anyone living in England in the 19th century who wasn’t committing bigamy. When divorce cost money, and could only be granted for specific reasons, it was often easier when a marriage broke down to end it informally – to separate or simply move on with other people. Although this was easier for men than women to do (wives often having the complication of children to maintain, leading to cases of desertion where women had to try and track their husbands down to pay maintenance), both parties could end up living with new partners when their previous spouse was still alive, or even going through a marriage ceremony. In some cases, the bigamous partner might insist that they thought their previous partner had died, and that therefore they could legally marry again. This was not as outlandish an idea as it might seem; communications, although good in the 19th century, were not as quick or easy as our own, and it was fairly common for an individual to be able to seemingly disappear, having moved to a different area, or even different country, to start a new life. Yet communication was also good enough for many a bigamous man or woman to find themselves tracked down and made to account for their actions.

A ride through time

Searching within records that contain our ancestors’ details can often indicate whether they worked for years at one job or changed occupations several times throughout their lives. We may find that they started out doing one thing and then over the years gravitated to another, altogether different occupation. I remember being excited when I started out researching to find that my ancestor had been a worker in H.M. Dockyard at Portsmouth. They had begun in their home town as a ropemaker, took this skill with them to the naval port, learned maritime competency and ended up back at home in charge of the then modern steam-powered railway ferry.

The saddest goodbye

It is very poignant to discover that you have an ancestor who committed suicide. Even if it occurred centuries ago, we can still empathise with the desolation or pain that must have prompted this most extreme of decisions. In the past, suicide or felo de se was rated as unique among crimes as the 18th century solicitor general, William Blackstone, explained

Letters to the editor

A 1780 press gang caricature – see entry for 1794</p> <p>Early newspapers often featured letters to the editor, enabling us today to read our ancestors’ thoughts in print. In this article I will journey through the years and look at a selection of such letters.

The Family History Show is back!

The Family History Show Online – organised in association with Discover Your Ancestors and sponsored by TheGenealogist, is returning this month so that once more you can enjoy all the features of a physical family history show, but from the comfort of your own home. The show will take place on Saturday 19th February.

Pinpoint your Edwardian north London ancestors with new mapped records

TheGenealogist has released records of 72,663 individuals so that researchers will be able to discover useful details about ancestors’ homes from the following London areas in 1910: Albany, Belsize, Camden Town, Chalk Farm, Euston, Grays Inn Road, Highgate East, Highgate West, Kilburn, Priory and Adelaide Parish (Hampstead), St Andrew East, St Andrew West, St Giles East, St Giles North, St Giles South, Saffron Hill, Somers Town and Tottenham Court Road.

History in the details: Materials - cotton (part 2)

Grown, processed and worn exclusively in hot climates for millennia, by c.1200 small quantities of cotton were being imported from Venice to England and from the 1510s Levantine cotton reached Britain directly, being used for stuffing, quilting and yarn for candlewicks. The production of cotton goods within Britain was first recorded in the late 1500s and by the mid-1600s Lancashire had become a significant fustian-producing region, manufacturing much of the 40,000 lengths of fustian (cotton and linen mixes) produced in England annually, mainly using raw cotton from Cyprus and Smyrna (Turkey).

Place in Focus: Monmouthshire

Monmouthshire is one of thirteen historic counties of Wales and a former administrative county. It corresponds approximately to the present areas of Monmouthshire, Blaenau Gwent, Newport and Torfaen, and the parts of Caerphilly and Cardiff east of the Rhymney River.

People's parks

It is often when a resource is becoming scarce that the need to preserve some of it is considered. In the 19th century, open land which was accessible by all inhabitants of an urban area was such a resource. The unbridled growth of the factory economy from the end of the 18th century, and the sprawling, unplanned slums which sprang up as accommodation for factory workers in the emerging industrial towns in the North, the Midlands and in the East End of London, rapidly deprived poorer people of access to open space in the scant hours when they were free to amuse themselves.

Books this month cover our not so virtuous ancestors, the Tudors and Scurvy

What springs to mind when you think of British Victorian men and women? – manners, manners and more manners. Behaviour that was as rigid and constricted as the corsets women wore. From iron-knicker sexual prudery to men so uptight they furtively released their pent up emotions in opium dens and prostitute hot spots. All, of course, exaggerated clichés worthy of a Victorian melodrama

Additional Information

Other Formats

You can buy a printed version of the annual Discover Your Ancestors bookazine directly from the publishers, please see www.discoveryourancestors.co.uk and click on ‘Order print copies’ at the bottom.

Editorial Office

Discover Your Ancestors Publishing,

PO BOX 163,

Shaftesbury,

SP7 7BA

E: [email protected]

W: www.discoveryourancestors.co.uk

Discover Your Ancestors – The Family History Show

The Family History Show, York!

Saturday 22nd June 2024
10:00 –16:00 (GMT)

Put your research questions to an expert, watch a talk, speak to a local society, archive or genealogical supplier.

Free talks all day, held in a large lecture hall.
Free Experts on hand to help with your queries.
Many family history societies, archives and companies will be attending from all over the country.

Special Offer! Buy tickets for £8.00 (£12.00 on the day)

Buy your tickets early and get two for the price of one!

Find Out More Purchase Tickets

Future Events

Unable to make the next show? We also have shows planned for the following locations:

Discover Your Ancestors Periodical is published by Discover Your Ancestors Publishing, UK. All rights in the material belong to Discover Your Ancestors Publishing and may not be reproduced, whether in whole or in part, without their prior written consent. The publisher makes every effort to ensure the magazine's contents are correct. All articles are copyright© of Discover Your Ancestors Publishing and unauthorised reproduction is forbidden. Please refer to full Terms and Conditions at www.discoveryourancestors.co.uk. The editors and publishers of this publication give no warranties, guarantees or assurances and make no representations regarding any goods or services advertised.