Tracing Your Ancestors through Letters & Personal Writings

Ruth A Symes • £14.99
Pen & Sword

Could your ancestors write their own names or did they mark official documents with a cross? Why did great-grandfather write so cryptically on a postcard home during the First World War? Why did great-grandmother copy all the letters she wrote into letter-books? How unusual was it that great-uncle sat down and wrote a poem, or a memoir?

This book looks at the kinds of (mainly unpublished) writing that could turn up amongst family papers from the Victorian period onwards – a time during which writing became crucial for holding families together and managing their collective affairs.

With industrialisation, improved education, and far more geographical mobility, British people of all classes were writing for new purposes, with new implements, in new styles, using new modes of expression and new methods of communication. This book shows family historians how to get the most out of documents written by their ancestors.

James II: King in Exile

John Callow • £12.99
The History Press

James II was Britain’s last Catholic king. The spectacular collapse of his regime in 1688 and the seizure of his throne by his nephew William of Orange are the best-known events of his reign. But what of his life after this? What became of him during his final exile?

John Callow’s groundbreaking study focuses on this hitherto neglected period of his life: the 12 years he spent attempting to recover his crown through war, diplomacy, assassination and subterfuge. This is the story of the genesis of Jacobitism; of the devotion of the fallen king’s followers, who shed their blood for him at the battle of the Boyne and the massacre at Glencoe, gave up estates and riches to follow him to France, and immortalised his name in artworks, print, and song. Yet, this first ‘King Over the Water’ was far more than a figurehead. A grim, inflexible warlord and a maladroit politician, he was also a man of undeniable principle, which he pursued regardless of the cost to either himself or his subjects. He was an author of considerable talent, and a monarch capable of successive reinventions. This powerful, evocative and original book will appeal to anyone interested in Stuart history, politics, culture and military studies.

Mad or Bad

David J Vaughan • £12.99
Pen & Sword

Written in accessible language, this book retells 25 cases of crime and insanity in Victorian Britain, from the renowned to obscure, including an attempt to murder a bemused Queen Victoria; the poisoner Dove and the much-feared magician; the king’s former wet-nurse who slaughtered six children; the worst serial killer in Britain… and more. A Who’s Who introduces the principal players, while a convenient Glossary of ‘terms and conditions’ helps to explain the outcomes of the cases.