A word from
our chairman
As I write this homily in early September, I'm
looking forward to visiting my relatives in Australia
and looking back to the 'Forward to the Past' family
history conference. The conference took twentieth
century records as its theme - and it certainly
seemed odd hearing about immigration records made as
recently as 1980 The theme of the conference was also
a reminder, if any were needed, that we are part of
our own family's history and that we must include
some autobiographical details as we write up our own
research. As a widower, I feel this very deeply, as
my late wife, Lesley, left voluminous records
reaching back to the 16th century, but I have to rely
on my mother-in-law and my memories of conversations
for details of her life before I met and married her.
I now have a camcorder, so that I can make the
fullest possible record of my many cousins as I meet
them during my travels, so that I, and they, can have
records of our meetings and discussions. I'm enjoying
learning as I go along, finding out what works and
what doesn't work, and gaining in confidence as I
learn.
At the conference Robert Perks talked about the
National Sound Archive which gave me some pointers,
and I bought a couple of booklets on oral history to
help me along. And I do have some magic 'footage' of
my American cousins talking about bears carved with
chain saws and quilts to build on.
So I do urge you to resolve not to forget your own
history and that of your living relatives, and to
keep your mind open to learning new skills and new
ways of doing things. If there's something you'd like
to know more about, please let us know, and perhaps
we can commission articles, lectures or workshops to
help you.
The conference also hosted the general meeting of
the Federation of Family History Societies, a meeting
that takes place twice a year where representatives
of many family history societies (ours included) can
share their views and the Federation can put them
forward with government agencies, such as the Public
Record Office. The growth of family history on the
Internet and the upcoming 1901 census were hot topics
at the meeting. The Federation has now been asked to
look into ways to make the information transcribed by
members of the many societies available online on a
'pay to view' basis. Personally, I look forward to
seeing this information online, as I feel it will
compare very favourably to information from other
sources.
In the September Berkshire Family Historian,
I spoke of the different needs of Berkshire family
historians, who research in Berkshire, and family
historians living in the Berkshire area, who research
elsewhere. The other major difference, of course, is
between those who use computers for managing their
family history research and those who don't. I
believe the majority of active family historians now
use computers, and they would rather receive
information electronically, rather in booklet or
fiche form. So far, we haven't published on CD-Rom,
partly for security reasons, and partly because not
all family historians have computers with CD drives -
but then again not all family historians have fiche
readers and access to fiche readers is becoming more
limited. So should we enter the digital world? Let us
know.
Chancery
proceedings database
Until recently the only index to the Chancery
Court equity records was the Bernau Index in the
Society of Genealogists' Library which provided an
index to some of the documents, but not the full PRO
class reference, only the bundle and sub-numbers.
Now a database is available online from the PRO.
The equity records in Chancery contain a vast and
wonderful series of documents, but they have always
been difficult to access. The documents include
information on manorial records, domestic, trading
disputes, land purchase, apprenticeship agreements,
tithes, common rights and enclosure - even
drunkenness. The equity side of the Court of Chancery
handled a large number of disparate disputes dealing
with inheritance, land transactions, debts and
marriage settlements. Evidence took the form of
statements on oath (affidavits), pleas, and
examination of witnesses (depositions).
In the early seventeenth century each of the Six
Clerks of Chancery began to file cases separately in
their respective divisions. The records are known as
the Six Clerks series. Most cases date from 1648 (although
there are a few before) and end in 1722. The
documents are arranged in bundles with each bundle
containing several cases, each with its own number.
Over 30,000 cases have been entered and can easily
be searched by piece reference, by person, place or
by subject. For people there's a wealth of detail on
occupations, titles and offices held by individuals.
The documents reveal a wealth of detail concerning
late seventeenth and early eighteenth century life.
Huntley
and Palmers on the web
The Museum of Reading and the University of
Reading will be digitising material relating to the
history of Reading's biscuit makers as a result of a
grant from National Lottery fund. Reading's Rural
History Centre and the Berkshire Record Office have
also been awarded more than a quarter of a million
pounds to digitise material about the history of
farming and the enclosure maps of Berkshire. The
project began in the autumn and is expected to last
for two years.
London
Metropolitan Archives
From November 24 the LMA will be open for two
Saturdays a month. This is an experiment to test the
response to Saturday openings. The two Saturdays
selected will be the second and fourth in each month,
unless it is followed by a holiday. A list of major
genealogical sources will also be placed on their
website at www.cityoflondon.gov.uk.
The relevant page entitled 'London Generations',
should enable those interested in London family
history to make the most of a visit to the LMA.
Greenham
Common website
The National Lottery Fund has given £137,000 to
develop a website dedicated to preserving the history
of Greenham Common. Over 1,400 items of historical
interest will be digitised and eventually made freely
available. Video and archive film footage, including
audio recordings and photographs, documents and texts
will make up what will become a unique digital museum.
Some of the site should be up and running towards the
end of next year. So if you have material or memories
of the Common get in touch with Paul Cannon or Amanda
Loaring on 01635 30511.
Northern
Ireland certificates
The General Register Office for Northern Ireland
has recently launched a new website at www.groni.gov.uk
where a key feature of the site is the facility to
order credit card applications for birth, death,
marriage and adoption certificates online.
Old school
friends
If you haven't already seen it there's a new
simple-to-use website that allows you to find out
what your old school and college friends are doing
now. It's free and to log in you find your school,
add your details and then you can make email contact
with your old school friends either in this country
or abroad. An example of the kind of messages
exchanged range from making contact or memories like
'Mrs. Stone, a mad English teacher who fully
appreciated rather bizarre artistic interpretations
of poetry (e.g. floating around the classroom like a
leaf!) and often had to reverse her brain (accompanied
by a strange gesture)'. If you would like to try it
out the website address is www.friendsreunited.co.uk/.
Origins online
Just a year ago the Society of Genealogists went
into partnership with Origins.net to provide some of
the Society's library data online under the banner of
English Origins. Over the last year Origins.net at www.origins.net has
been adding substantially to the content available to
Scots Origins and English Origins users.
Since launching English Origins in Januaiy a
significant number of records can be searched
including the marriage licence allegations index,
Boyd's marriage index (covering a large area of East
Anglia), Bank of England will extracts, archdeaconry
Court of London wills index, London apprenticeship
abstracts and London Consistory Court Depositions
index.
The indexes may be searched free, although access
to the site costs £6 allowing up to 150 records to
be retrieved over a 48 hour period. Members of the
Society of Genealogists receive a special discounted
rate. For details about the index go to: www.englishorigins.com/bmidetails.html
BOPCRIS
Yet another acronym, but this one may reveal some
interesting information for family historians.
BOPCRIS is the British Official Publications
Collaborative Reader Information Service (yes I know
it's a mouthful, but bear with me). Official
government publications cover a wide range of
documents from Royal Commissions to statements of
policy. Perhaps the most interesting of them are the
many Royal Commissions set up by various governments
during the nineteenth century from those on child
labour to the study of the agricultural depression.
For example those on agriculture often include
evidence given by landowners in Berkshire on the
state of their farms and how much they pay labourers.
The website enables you to search and browse
information from publications over the period 1688-1995.
You can also read abstracts, and view detailed
subject indexing, of key documents and then read the
digitised full-text version of a limited number of
these documents. BOPCRIS currently contains 23,279
references to key British Official Publications 1688-1995.
The website address is www.bopcris.ac.uk/
Public
Record Office events
The Public Record Office will be showing some of
its treasures, including many Victorian Christmas
cards and a seventeenth century recipe for mince pies
at a Christmas Past exhibition open from December lo
until the 21st. There will also be costumed tours of
the Visitor Centre on December 29.
Dorset open day
Open up your new diaries and put in the Dorset
Family History Society's open day which will be held
on 20th April. It will be held at Oakmead College of
Technology, Duck Lane, Bear Cross, Bournemouth.
Reading
Branch meetings
Don't forget that from January the Reading Branch
meetings will be held at the Church of Latter-day
Saints, Church End Lane, Tilehurst on the last
Thursday of the month.
