Family History Books

National Index of Parish Registers

Genuki and other sites are invaluable for providing information about parishes, but occasionally they suggest a situation far simpler than it actually is.

The National Index of Parish Registers series of books, published by the Society of Genealogists, is not perfect, but does provide a good working guide to the complexities of the situation on a county basis.

Editors of individual volumes decide the criteria for arrangement and inclusion. Generally, information is listed by ancient parish, starting with the oldest church, ie the Parish Church, then all the later parishes and chapelries. The starting dates are given for the registers, their location and the existence and location of any copies. Where new parishes are formed out of older ones, this is noted, to give an idea of where an event might have taken place at any particular date.

This information is fairly standard (and of course churches continue to be created, renamed, made redundant, deconsecrated etc, while records still with an incumbent ten years ago may well now have been deposited.)

What is so useful about these volumes is that they try to include any place where vital events may have been noted. So you may find Lying in Hospitals, Cemeteries, Barracks, besides places of worship for Methodists, Baptists, Jews, Quakers, Roman Catholics, Congregationalists etc.

Many nonconformists deposited their registers at the time civil registration started (and these are to be found in RG4 at the National Archives.) Not all did, however, and records post 1837 may still be held in chapels, if they exist. Some of the chapels listed have only been identified by entries in directories as they no longer exist.

Even if you don't own a copy, these books are well worth browsing through, to give you an idea of the multiplicity of places where a vital event may have been recorded in the victorian period.

Her People and Where There's Life, by Kathleen Dayus, my copy is published 1985 by Virago. If you had poor rellies living in towns, applying for poor relief, etc. These 2 books are one woman's story. Born 1903 in Birmingham, married, widowed, sanctioned for working while on poor relief, put her children into Barnados then worked to afford a home so she could get them back. Really helps you see the life as it was then for that 'class' of people.

Lifting the Latch by Sheila Stewart. This is an excellent telling of the life of ‘Old Mont’ a labourer in Oxfordshire. It gives a really good account of shepherding and the skills of carting. It also tells of the good feeling of belonging to a rural community. I read this a few years ago, but it has stayed with me and is still fresh in my mind. Definitely worth a read!

Women in England 1760-1914 A Social History Susie Steinbach ISBN 0-75381-989-9

Victorian London The Life of a City 1840-1870 Liza Picard ISBN 0-7538-2090-0

Women of Victorian Sussex Helena Wojtczak ISBN 1-904-109-05-5

Female Line Researching your female ancestors Author: Margaret Wood. ISBN 1853068187

The Victorian Domestic Servant - Trevor May

The Victorian House - Judith Flanders

All Quiet on the Home Front Richard Van Emden & Steve Humphries ISBN 0-7553-1189-2. An oral history of life in Britain during the First World War.

The Long Furrow by Ashley Cooper History of farming in Essex

The Crooked Scythe an anthology of oral history by George Ewart Evans.

Lark Rise to Candleford (et seq) by Flora Thompson - rural, ag lab life 1800s to early 1900s.

Akenfield Ronald Blythe - social mores in a rural community, with some interviews with local people.

The Country Child Alison Uttley - fictionalised, but accurate account of a childhood in Oxfordshire. (Early 1900s)

Colonel's Lady and Camp-follower Piers Compton, published in 1970 and out of print now I believe. It is the story of the women who went to the Crimean war, as soldiers wives and as tourists, believe it or not! An interesting read if you have an ancestor who was one of these women.

Mary Barton Elizabeth Gaskell. It's an excellent picture of working class life in the area during the 1840's and was written at the time so has an authentic feel. As it's a classic, there are many editions. Mine is a cheapie from Penguin Popular Classics

The History of Myddle Richard Gough around 1701. [I believe there are a number of modern editions, including a Penguin paperback]. The actual history of this Shropshire parish isn't of particular interest to me, as none of my ancestors lived in that part of the country, but I'm fascinated by the author's view of the world (at least his small part of it).

For example, he knew from memory (presumably) his direct male ancestral line, including wive's maiden names, parents' names, and parishes of origin, going back (if I recall correctly) six or seven generations. Moreover, he knew the genealogy of every pew holder in the parish, usually for at least three generations, depending on how long the family had lived in Myddle or one of the nearby parishes, along with anecdotes about their ancestor's characters. Obviously, if he were alive today, he would be a member of this forum! It goes to show, though, how important this kind of knowledge was considered to be, particularly when land tenure or other rights might depend on showing 'customary usage'.

Gough was a young boy (e.g., 9 or 10) during the English Civil War, and while his first-hand reminiscences of that period are limited, he gives a good sense of how his parish had been affected at the time, and how it was still remembered by people of his generation. At one point he also provides an explanation of how traditional tithing in kind worked in practice - e.g., if a farmer had six or less new lambs (or calves, chickens, piglets, etc...), he wasn't expected to give any to the church, but to pay money instead; if he had between 7 and 9, one would go to the church, but the farmer would receive money back, essentially as change (the tithe being one-tenth).

Although Gough was probably better educated and better off financially than many of his neighbours (I'm not sure if he would be considered lower gentry or one of the 'middling sorts'), he certainly was in touch with the common man, and once you get accustomed to his style, he is quite easy to read - a real link between our world and that of Stuart England

The Family Detective Nick Barratt. I noticed a book in the "New Books" section in my local library and couldn't resist borrowing it, just in case it had any tips that might help. But having read about half of it, I just want to say I would not recommend buying it. If you are a complete beginner then there are so many mistakes and omissions in it that it might lead you up the garden path, and if you're not a complete beginner you will just find it annoying. And that's not to mention the numerous spelling and grammatical errors (for instance, section two is heralded by the title "Going Furthur" in very large print!)

Just a few examples - Nick Barratt suggests that the onus was / is on the bride and groom to go to the register office to make sure their marriage is registered after a church wedding! And in the bit about birth certificates he suggests a few ways of guessing whether somebody was a twin (including, strangely, their name?) but doesn't mention anything about time of birth being given! He doesn't mention that a birth certificate might not have a first name on it at all. Nor that you are allowed six weeks to register a birth, so it might be in the quarter after the one in which it took place. You would think all this was fairly basic information, wouldn't you? And coverage of Scotland is very poor. There is a mention of Scotland's People in the back, but it doesn't explain what is available on it, and if you didn't know better you would be left with the impression that you had to go to Edinburgh to find anything out.

Nick Barratt does say at the beginning of the book that his qualification is actually in mediaeval English state finance and fiscal history. I thought he must be a qualified genealogist from the fact that he was the expert on the first series of WDYTYA, but it seems not. Seriously, so far I am very disappointed with it. But at least I didn't spend any money on it!

P.S. Forgot to say that one of the reasons I borrowed it thinking it might be useful was that one of the things shown on the cover was a Certificate of Registry of Birth. Remember a few weeks ago we were finding out all about those, and the difference between one of those and a birth certificate? I thought, wow, if it has one of those on the cover it is going to be really detailed and informative! Not so.

The Lost Villages of England by Leigh Driver. Publisher: New Holland Publishers Ltd 2006. Britain is full of deserted, abandoned and lost villages. There are over 3,000 in England alone. Many were deserted in medieval times, for reasons ranging from death by plague to the depletion of the area's natural resources, whilst others were deserted more recently for reasons of national security. Villages such as Tyneham in Dorset, and Imber in Wiltshire, were taken over by the military in wartime, yet were never returned to their original inhabitants. Today, the desolate remains of these once-populated villages are all that remain to tell the stories of the inhabitants that once lived and worked there. Author Leigh Driver examines the historical writings, documents and archaeological remains that bear witness to the past, and tells the story of the demise of each "lost" village. Illustrated with stunning contemporary colour photographs alongside old aerial views, maps, and historical documents, these "lost" villages are brought back to life in this book. Villages featured include: Martinsthorpe in Rutland. Cold Newton and Ingarsby in Leicestershire

The Local Historian's Glossary of Words and Terms by Joy Bristow. Publisher Countryside Books, 3rd ed. 2001, reprinted 2005. As well as definitions of 3000+ words likely to be found in old records, this includes very useful appendices, including a table of the regnal years of Kings and Queens 1066-1952, a concise history of the English currency, weights and measures and several others.

Childhood

Radio 4 did a series called The Invention of Childhood, which described what it was like to be a child from the Middle Ages to Modern Times, it is now available as a 6 CD set for £16.99 + £2.45 p&p, from BBC Shop I didn't heard all the series as it was on in the afternoons, but I was impressed with what I heard and have ordered the CDs for myself.

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