Category Archives: Uncategorized

On Holocaust Memorial Day (27 January), FindMyPast released digitised records of approximately 10,000 Jewish children who came to Britian between 1938 and 1940 as part of the Kindertransport refugee programme. The records include Government correspondence and reports and usually provide the names, dates of birth and origins of the children, and sometimes the details ofContinueContinue reading “Kindertransport records on FindMyPast: what they are”

A new collection was published on Ancestry today: nearly 1.5 million death index transcriptions, dated between 2007 and 2013. The title is somewhat misleading: this is NOT an extension of the GRO index. Every genealogist will tell you to state your sources, but unfortunately the source information on Ancestry is somewhat vague: stating simply (onContinueContinue reading “New collection of death records on Ancestry, 2007-2013, from “Various sources””

Hot on the heels of other Great War releases, Ancestry has recently announced a new collection: ‘UK, Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929′. Where soldiers were killed in action during the Boer or Great Wars, these fascinating records provide information about the money paid to soldiers’ next of kin by the British Government.  The WarContinueContinue reading “UK, Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929”

Continuing on the theme of new record collections of use to your Suffolk or Norfolk family, local or military history project, here’s a quick look at a new collection on FindMyPast.   This is Lt William Henry Jordon Dods. You can find him at Picture Norfolk (picture credit: 30129032899909) where the image summary tells us that: “WilliamContinueContinue reading “Bond of Sacrifice: Officers Died in the Great War”

If you’ve seen the announcement about ‘more than 9,500 monumental inscriptions from over 25 parishes’ being added to FindMyPast.co.uk, you may well be wondering which parishes these are (after all, Norfolk has around 700 in total).  I’ve been to have a look for you, and they appear to be:  Barford Barnham Broom Bylaugh East DerehamContinueContinue reading “Mid Norfolk Monumental Inscriptions on FindMyPast”

Every day, new people visit archives across the country and around the world. Here’s some advice from ‘the other side of the desk’. Hopefully it will provide light-hearted reassurance that we’d love to see you, as well as help you to get the most out of your first visit, next visit, or repeat visit: IContinueContinue reading “Getting the most out of your first (or next) visit to the archives”

Working on a project commemorating the Great War, I came across the incredible story of Sister Jessie Clementia Hayward, a nurse from Norfolk who survived the sinking of HMS Transylvania in 1917. Sister Hayward was on her way to a hospital in Salonika with thousands of troops when a U Boat torpedoed the vessel. AContinueContinue reading ““I hope it won’t be so exciting as this”: Sister Hayward’s Great War Diary”

Having just organised a series of events looking at the plague, medieval diagnosis, medicine, and doctors and nurses, I had to post the following transcript from a probate entry I found this morning while putting together displays for the ‘In Sickness and In Health’ series. I had hoped to find a will belonging to aContinueContinue reading “The Norwich Plague of 1666: Anne Beckett’s Last Wishes”

It’s supposed to be one of the most stressful things you can do, but at least as someone with an interest in local history, moving house gives you a new avenue of research. I regularly speak to people who are checking up on a potential new purchase (chalk workings around the Norwich area are aContinueContinue reading “Thoughts on…Moving House”

Recently, I’ve had a lot of queries about bomb damage in Norwich, so I thought it might be worth a quick post to point out some of the first ports of call if you’re looking for resources. From home, you already have access to some fantastic free online resources, some of which are: Norfolk’s HistoricContinueContinue reading “Norwich Bomb Damage”