Tracing Your Prisoner Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians

Stephen Wade • £14.99
pen-and-sword.co.uk

The history of the British prison system only had systematic records from the middle of the 19th century. Before that, material on prisoners in local gaols and houses of correction was patchy and minimal. In more recent times, many prison records have been destroyed.

In this book, crime historian and DYA writer Stephen Wade attempts to provide information and guidance to family and social history researchers in this difficult area of criminal records. His book covers the span of time from medieval to modern, and includes some Scottish and Irish sources.

The sources explained range broadly from central calendars of prisoners, court records and gaol returns, through to memoirs and periodicals. The chapters also include case studies and short biographies of some individuals who experienced our prisons and left some records.

The Forgotten Slave Trade

Simon Webb • £19.99
pen-and-sword.co.uk

Everybody knows about the transatlantic slave trade, which saw black Africans snatched from their homes, taken across the Atlantic Ocean and then sold into slavery. However, a century before Britain became involved in this terrible business, whole villages and towns in England, Ireland, Italy, Spain and other European countries were being depopulated by slavers, who transported the men, women and children to Africa where they were sold to the highest bidder. This is the forgotten slave trade; one which saw over a million Christians forced into captivity in the Muslim world.

Starting with the practice of slavery in the ancient world, Simon Webb traces the history of slavery in Europe, showing that the numbers involved were vast and that the victims were often treated far more cruelly than black slaves in America and the Caribbean. Castration, used very occasionally against black slaves taken across the Atlantic, was routinely carried out on an industrial scale on European boys who were exported to Africa and the Middle East. Most people are aware that the English city of Bristol was a major centre for the transatlantic slave trade in the 18th century, but hardly anyone knows that 1,000 years earlier it had been an important staging-post for the transfer of English slaves to Africa.

Sex and Sexuality in Georgian Britain

Mike Rendell • £14.99
pen-and-sword.co.uk

Peek beneath the bedsheets of 18thand early 19th-century Britain in this affectionate, informative and fascinating look at sex and sexuality during the reigns of Georges I-IV. It examines the prevailing attitudes towards male and female sexual behaviour, and the ways in which these attitudes were often determined by those in positions of power and authority. It also explores our ancestors’ ingenious, surprising, bizarre and often entertaining solutions to the challenges associated with maintaining a healthy sex life.

Did the people in Georgian Britain live up to their stereotypes when it came to sexual behaviour? This book will answer this question, as well as looking at fashion, food, science, art, medicine, magic, literature, love, politics, faith and superstition through a new lens, leaving the reader enlightened and with a new regard for the ingenuity and character of our ancestors.

The History of British Industry: The Birth of the Industrial Revolution 1700-1825

Peter Pugh • £22.99
iconbooks.com

This is a new three-volume story of how the United Kingdom became the world’s first economic superpower – and how that crown slipped…

Pugh begins with what was to become the world’s first industrial revolution, and with Isaac Newton, who laid the foundations of classical mechanics. We meet the well-known pioneers of the age such as Thomas Newcomen, Matthew Boulton and James Watt, but Pugh makes the case too for reappraising lesser-known figures: Joseph Bramah, James Brindley, John Roebuck and Erasmus Darwin.