Discover Your Ancestors

Issue 033

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A very happy new year to you all, and welcome back to Discover Your Ancestors Periodical, packed with our signature mix of social history and practical family history research advice.

As usual, we cover a lot of ground – from occupational explorations of pawnbroking and the leather industry to a wartime case study, walled kitchen gardens, freemasonry and more.

I’m very pleased to announce we have recently published a series of expert research guides, plus a compendium of articles first published in this magazine in 2013, so you can now read them in print for the first time – see page 24 for details.

Also, I’m delighted to say we’re now working on our fifth annual printed ‘bookazine’, which will be available in newsagents and supermarkets from around the end of February. We’ll bring you more details next month!

Meanwhile, enjoy this issue! Andrew Chapman, Editor.

Articles

Popping the family treasures

An 1894 cartoon entitled ‘The Poverty of Riches’, depicting aristocrats queueing outside a pawnbroker’s shop to sell their unwanted property (a bill had been put forward to abolish the House of Lords, but was not successful)

A charmed life

While researching recently on TheGenealogist.co.uk for an ancestor who had attended Cheltenham College, I came across the extraordinary story of another Old Cheltonian who was lucky to survive World War One, as he certainly didn’t keep his head down.

Inside the garden wall

The traditional garden would be enclosed by high walls, with possibly an orchard alongside. It would have hothouses capable of supplying its owner with figs, grapes, peaches, melons and nectarines, as well as forced vegetables and exotic pot plants. Gardens like this were the rule, rather than the exception in all proper country establishments before the Second World War. – Susan Campbell, Cottesbrooke, An English Kitchen Garden

Hide-bound histories

During the 150-year period from 1680 to 1830, the production of leather and leather goods was, by value, the second most important industry in England after textiles, and one of the largest employers outside agriculture. Animal hides were converted into such everyday articles as boots, shoes, clogs, harnesses, saddles, breeches, aprons, gloves, bags, cases and bottles, and for use in industry for bellows and belting. Book binders were also important customers for fine leather.

Find a fortune down under

In this case study we look at William Fortune and his young wife who set out for a new life in New South Wales, departing from London on 13 February 1841 on board the ship the Jane Gifford, as revealed in the recently-added passenger list records at data site TheGenealogist.co.uk.

January 2616 News

TheGenealogist.co.uk has now completed the launch of its exclusive searchable Tithe Maps and Schedules for England and Wales with the release of more maps covering 40 counties.

Samuel Pepys: Plague, Fire, Revolution

The largest ever exhibition about the famous diarist Samuel Pepys is now open at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, with 200 objects from national and international museums, galleries and private collections.

History in the details: Dressing Gowns

The concept of a dressing-gown or robe for private wear at home dates back to the 17th century, when fashionable gentlemen began to don a comfortable full-length robe or morning gown before getting dressed or when relaxing indoors.

Behind the square and compasses

Freemasonry, a fraternal society with origins in English 14th-century guilds of stonemasons, is often associated with conspiracy theories (the most recent being that members scuppered the inquiry into Titanic’s sinking), cultish secret handshakes and blackballing ceremonies. Certainly, the organisation has been highly secretive in the past, demanding members keep others’ secrets and not talk openly about its beliefs and rituals. In recent years, though, there has been a drive towards openness and honesty, and it is hoped that what freemasons see as scapegoating of the fraternity and the general public’s perceptions of lodges as houses of cliques and corruption will diminish ahead of the movement’s 300-year anniversary in 2017.

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire was recorded as a county in the early years of the 10th century and is situated on land between the River Thames to the south, the Cotswolds to the west, the Chilterns to the east and the Midlands to the north, with areas running south to Henley-on-Thames and north to Banbury.

Books for January 2013

British looked back to their origins they saw the looming mythological figure of Brutus of Troy. Landing at Totnes in Devon, Brutus overthrew the giants who lived in Britain, laid the foundations of Oxford University and London and sired a long line of kings, including King Arthur and the ancestors of the present Royal Family

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!

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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.