For all family history researchers living in Berkshire and for those researching Berkshire ancestors
page reviewed and revised Monday 10th March 2014
The early twentieth century: Conflict and change
A major conference on 18th October for family and local historians, with a series of visits leading up to it.
Here are some brief day-by-day reminders of notable events from the remarkable early decades of the last century 20th Century Calendar-see more
10th March 1914 Militant suffragette Mary Richardson slashes Velasquez’ Rokeby' Venus in the National Gallery ostensibly in protest against Emmeline Pankhurst's re-arrest the previous day
11th March 1917 The British Indian Army captures Baghdad from the Ottoman Turks after earlier defeats during the two-year campaign
12th March 1930 In India Mohandas Gandhi begins a peaceful civil disobedience campaign against British rule with the Salt Satyagraha, a march to Dandi protesting against the British salt tax
13th March 1920 The Kapp Putsch briefly ousts the Weimar Republic government only to be suppressed within days as 12 million workers stage Germany's biggest-ever strike in opposition
14th March 1912 Antonio d'Alba, a 20 year old anarchist, fires shots at Italian King Vittorio Emanuele III who survives the assassination attempt
15th March 1909 London: at 9 am sharp, doors open on Oxford Street at what American tycoon G S Selfridge describes as “London’s newest shopping centre”
16th March 1926 American physicist Robert H. Goddard launches the first rocket powered by liquid fuel—the flight lasts 2.5 seconds, the rocket reaches a height of 12 metres and travels 56 metres
17th March 1921 London: Marie Stopes opens the first British clinic to advise women on birth control in Holloway
Conference Programme outline Booking NOW
About Visits All Booking NOW
4th April: The National Archives (next visit)
19th June: St George's Chapel & Archives—only nine places left
3rd August: Halton House & Trenchard Museum—THREE places left
supported by Berkshire Record Office and findmypast
Members' Area - New data added
Berkshire family history publications
NEW Fawley St Mary Parish Registers CD 1540-1987
Data samples in the Members' Area. Product reviews in the Shop)
Berkshire Maps CD OS 1881-1887 ◊ 51 maps, gazetteer and index
Berkshire Baptisms CD ◊ Details of content and coverage
Berkshire Marriages CD ◊ Places and dates
Berkshire Burials CD ◊ Places and dates
Berkshire Probate Index CD 1480-1857 ◊ What wills can tell you
An Historical Atlas of Berkshire ◊ read a review
All CDs and publications sold at the Research Centre
Informed advice wherever your ancestors came from
Join the society Extended membership offer
Explore the Royal County of Berkshire
Tuesday 11 March—drop in advice at Bracknell library
Tuesday 25 March—drop in advice at Wokingham library
Branches meet at Abingdon, Bracknell, Newbury, Reading, Windsor and Woodley—see Main Menu and calendar
Next meetings Newbury (12th March) Abingdon (17th March)
WHEREVER your ancestors came from...find them at Berkshire's foremost facility for family history research—the society's Research Centre in Reading. Open to all.
FOUR family history online options
Origins - National Wills Index + York Peculiars probate images now available and census updates
British Newspaper Archive - search over 7.5 million pages across the country; new pages added from Reading Mercury and Wiltshire Independent
findmypast - NEW RECORDS—British in India 2.5 million records + UK Rate Books—and free family tree
Ancestry search WORLDWIDE (includes lots for London, but not for Berkshire)
Browse library catalogue Search the catalogue
The Family History Research Centre is in Reading, next to Berkshire Record Office—home of original records of the Royal County—including those of Vale of the White Horse and North Berkshire. Parking is free
You will find society Marriage and Burial transcriptions (but not all of them) online at findmypast See ALL of the society's Berkshire data at the Research Centre.
Quality is key. Who wants unreliable information? Or details that can't be searched intelligently?
Berkshire Family History Society does not publish unchecked material. Almost all Berkshire FHS CDs are fully browsable and searchable, unlike those from some other societies. The society needs more people willing to check transcriptions against original records held at Berkshire Record Office in Reading. And talk to us if you have good experience in assembling and building data CDs.
Why not join in and help?
Projects make more records from the pre-1974 Royal County of Berkshire more readily accessible for more people.
page reviewed and revised Monday 10th March 2014
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