Oceans Apart

Penny Starns • £12.99
thehistorypress.co.uk

In May 1940, the armies of the Second World War were tearing through Central Europe and France had just fallen under German control. The British government made the decision to evacuate 200,000 children around the globe, leaving them alone and completely disconnected from their heartbroken parents.

Penny Starns’ Oceans Apart: Stories of Overseas Evacuees in World War 2 tells the previously untold stories of the evacuees and their experiences using their own words. The stories reveal the differing experiences of those children who were sent away to Australia, South Africa, Canada and New Zealand. Some settled into their new families with ease while others were subjected to racism and abuse at the hands of their carers.

The book exclusive diary extracts and previously unpublished photographs of the children and their experiences.

Starns also reveals the underlying motives of the British government to use the children as a propaganda tool and drum up support for their war effort.

Starns has a Ph D from the University of Bristol and has lectured in history at various universities. Her new research into overseas evacuees was the subject of a successful BBC Radio 4 programme series. She has written several previous books for The History Press.

Look out for an exclusive extract of Oceans Apart in Issue 3 of the Discover Your Ancestors bookazine, out in late February.

Capital of Discontent

Eric J Hewitt • £12.99
thehistorypress.co.uk

The Industrial Revolution was a period of exceptional change in Britain, not only in terms of technology but also in law and order. The country’s social order was shifting and in some towns the response was violence. In Manchester, the capital of discontent , events related to the Plug Plots, Peterloo and the Chartists created a very real fear of revolution on the streets of England. In its efforts to combat the disorder, the newly established police force became mired in political controversy, providing some disturbing but often amusing examples of corruption and misconduct. Eric J Hewitt examines the reactions of those who experienced the revolution in this most dangerous of places, and tells of such characters as the notorious serial killer Charlie Peace, the supposedly corrupt Deputy Constable Joseph Nadin and the illiterate millworker-turned-Home Secretary John Robert Clynes.

The Lifeboat Baronet

Janet Gleeson • £14.99
thehistorypress.co.uk

The RNLI has been saving lives at sea for 190 years. It was founded in 1824 by Sir William Hillary, who had witnessed a succession of tragic shipwrecks off the coast of the Isle of Man. Janet Gleeson’s book tells Hillary’s dramatic story in the first full biography. His life was one of constant reinvention. Born into a Quaker slave-owning family in Liverpool, he became a Regency rake, established Britain’s largest volunteer army during the Napoleonic Wars, then ran up vast debts that forced him to live life as a financial exile.

Tracing Your Limerick Ancestors

Margaret Franklin • €13.00
http://www.flyleaf.ie/

This is a completely new and expanded edition of this valuable guide. Limerick is a pleasant, largely rural county with prosperous farms centred around the historic city of Limerick, and the market towns of Askeaton, Abbeyfeale, Kilmallock, Newcastle West, Raheen and Rathkeale. Popular Limerick surnames include Ahern, Bourke, Cussen, Hayes, O’Brien, O’Connor, O’Donnell, O’Shaughnessy, McEnery, McNamara, Madigan, Murphy, Ryan, Walsh and Woulfe. Many of its people have emigrated, particularly in the aftermath of the Great Famine. Its population dwindled from 330,000 before the Famine to 158,000 in 1891. This updated edition sets out the records available, where they can be obtained and how to use each to best effect. It includes numerous illustrations.