Discover Your Ancestors

Issue 113

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A warm welcome to the September issue of Discover Your Ancestors Periodical, your monthly digital mix of family and social history.

The big news this month is that the London Family History Show – organised by DYA – is back after the pandemic hiatus, and it would be wonderful to see you there. If the York show in June is anything to go by, it will be packed (in a suitably spacious way) with experts, exhibitors and visitors alike. Find out more in this issue (along with a feature about the history of the venue) or head straight to www.thefamilyhistoryshow.com to grab your early bird tickets.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy reading this issue.

Andrew Chapman, Editor.

Articles

Victorian naval disasters

In the 18th century, Britain seemed to be at war more or less continuously. However, once Napoleon was defeated in 1815 the amount of international conflict requiring naval firepower subsided significantly for the rest of the 19th century. It might, therefore, be assumed that in the Victorian era few vessels of the Royal Navy would have been lost. Yet this is not, in fact, the case. There were quite a large number of appalling shipwrecks in which there was significant loss of life and some examples are given below.

Highway robbery

Highwaymen emerged in the 17th century to plague travellers on the outskirts of towns and cities. ‘They rob on horseback,’ declared German travel writer Carl Moritz, and ‘terrify travellers, in order to put themselves in possession of their purses.’

A park with no house?

Kempton Park – home to this month’s Family History Show (see box) – has a long history that can be traced back further than you may think, and in this article I am going to use various online records and maps to unearth a long-lost mansion and the manor house that it had replaced. The Kempton Park Racecourse built in its grounds was the idea of a 19th-century accountant and businessman called Samuel H. Hyde. The story of how it came to be that the racecourse was laid out here comes down to Hyde and his wife having been out in the country in June 1870, taking a carriage drive, when they came across Kempton Manor and Park. The estate was up for sale at the time and soon Hyde had leased the grounds in 1872 as a tenant. Having formed a company with some other shareholders, six years later in July 1878 Kempton Park opened its gates as a racecourse while Hyde and his family lived in the mansion on the estate.

The crime of cycling

Cycling has been a popular activity in Britain since the late 19th century. Cycling arguably started in Germany, but over the course of a few decades, different inventors from around Europe – including Scotland’s Thomas McCall – developed it from a rudimentary vehicle that still needed the rider to push along with his or her feet to a recognisably modern means of transportation. In the 1870s, the focus of stories in the press about cycling was about learning to ride, and to ride safely, with cycling clubs being established and pamphlets being published to help people learn – such as one published by the Surrey Bicycle Club in 1874, entitled ‘Hints on Bicycle Riding: How to learn to ride without a Master’, which was available to buy for fourpence. However, it was still seen as something of a niche interest, with a Scottish paper in 1879 stating that it ‘fancied’ the fans of cycling to be ‘a select rather than numerous section of the public’, largely comprising of ‘youths long of leg and eccentric of habit’. Elsewhere in Scotland, one writer set out to disprove the notion that cycling was hard, and boasted that he had learned the skill in ‘exactly twenty minutes’.

The tiger master

At Tobacco Dock in Wapping, East London there’s a striking statue/sculpture depicting a boy looking awestruck at a tiger, which has a threateningly raised paw. Here’s what the caption under is companion statue of a bear says: Over a hundred years ago on what was then called Ratcliffe Highway near to this spot stood Jamrach’s Emporium. This unique shop sold not only the most varied collection of curiosities but also traded in wild animals such as alligators, tigers, elephants, monkeys and birds… The animals were housed in iron cages and were well looked after until they were bought by zoological institutes and naturalist collectors

New headstone records online and save on your research

The International Headstone Collection at TheGenealogist has been boosted with 100,000 new records, bringing the total to nearly 400,000 records in the collection available for all Diamond subscribers of TheGenealogist to search.

History in the details: Materials - Silk (part 4)

The world-famous Spitalfields silk industry flourished until the Anglo-French war ended in 1765, then afterwards London’s skilled handloom weavers struggled to gain work. Causes included the modern water-powered mills that took silk-throwing out into the provinces; changes in late-Georgian fashion, which increasingly favoured new, convenient cotton fabrics; and a global slump in the price of silk goods. Aimed at alleviating the distressed Spitalfields weavers, the government passed the 1773 Spitalfields Act that fixed their wages and set prices for their goods, but this proved counterproductive, for manufacturers simply had their textiles woven more cheaply elsewhere, notably East Anglia and the North-West, so by the time the Act was repealed in 1825, production was well established in other locations.

Place in Focus: Northumberland

Today Northumberland is the most sparsely populated county in England. In the past it witnessed much conflict between England and Scotland. As evidence of its violent history, Northumberland has more castles than any other county in England, including those of Alnwick, Bamburgh, Dunstanburgh, Newcastle and Warkworth.

Going underground and under water

Few transportation maps can boast the pedigree that London’s iconic ‘Tube’ map can. Sported on t-shirts, keyrings, duvet covers, and most recently, downloaded an astonishing twenty million times in app form, the map remains a long-standing icon of British design and ingenuity. But it almost didn’t make it out of the notepad it was designed in.

Additional Information

Other Formats

You can buy a printed version of the annual Discover Your Ancestors bookazine directly from the publishers, please see www.discoveryourancestors.co.uk and click on ‘Order print copies’ at the bottom.

Editorial Office

Discover Your Ancestors Publishing,

PO BOX 163,

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E: editor@discoveryourancestors.co.uk

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Discover Your Ancestors – The Family History Show

The Family History Show, York!

Saturday 22nd June 2024
10:00 –16:00 (GMT)

Put your research questions to an expert, watch a talk, speak to a local society, archive or genealogical supplier.

Free talks all day, held in a large lecture hall.
Free Experts on hand to help with your queries.
Many family history societies, archives and companies will be attending from all over the country.

Special Offer! Buy tickets for £8.00 (£12.00 on the day)

Buy your tickets early and get two for the price of one!

Find Out More Purchase Tickets

Future Events

Unable to make the next show? We also have shows planned for the following locations:

Discover Your Ancestors Periodical is published by Discover Your Ancestors Publishing, UK. All rights in the material belong to Discover Your Ancestors Publishing and may not be reproduced, whether in whole or in part, without their prior written consent. The publisher makes every effort to ensure the magazine's contents are correct. All articles are copyright© of Discover Your Ancestors Publishing and unauthorised reproduction is forbidden. Please refer to full Terms and Conditions at www.discoveryourancestors.co.uk. The editors and publishers of this publication give no warranties, guarantees or assurances and make no representations regarding any goods or services advertised.