Discover Your Ancestors

Issue 003

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Welcome to Discover Your Ancestors Periodical. Once again we're delighted to bring you a packed and compact mixture of research advice, social history and other information which will help you to explore your family history and personal heritage. In this issue we cover topics as diverse as smallpox vaccination, railway staff, writing your own family I history narrative and the early years of the London Underground. See the full contents below or just dive in!

We're building our own online library of family history case studies. Do send us yours via our website using the form atdiscoveryourancestors.co.uk/contact– in time we hope to publish the best of them. Also, as a member of The National Archives User Advisory Group representing the online community, I'd love to hear from you –editor@discoveryourancestors.co.uk or throughTwitter at @DYAncestors – with your thoughts on TNA services, especially the controversial new Discovery catalogue system, which is expected to absorb the Access to Archives database later this year. By the way, you can pick up the first two issues of our annual printed edition at The National Archives bookshop in Kew.

If you're not a subscriber to the Periodical yet, do join us – it's only £24.99 a year – that's no more than five cups of coffee! Andrew Chapman, Editor

Articles

Thinking Outside the Pox

Every family would have been affected by smallpox. Sue Wilkes explores the history of vaccination and the marks it left in the archives.

Get Your Research on Track

In the late 19th century, more than a quarter of a million people were employed by the railway network, making it perfectly likely that you will have ancestors who worked in one of the many trades employed by the railway companies.

Far From Home

From 1869, child migrants known as 'Home Children’ were sent via migrant organisations from Britain to its imperial dominions of Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. More than 150,000 orphaned or poverty-stricken children were sent to the settler colonies. Around 7,000 children were sent to Australia from Britain as part of the 'Home Children’ emigration policy that lasted until 1967. The largest number of migrants - over 100,000 - was sent to Canada between 1869 and the early 1930s. This article explores how family historians can find out more about these child migrants, from their origins in the UK to their new lives in Canada.

Take to your pen!

How did you first become interested in family history? A couple of things came together, that placed me on this incredible path. I lost my in-laws quite suddenly and that set me on a journey of thinking about all the family history questions we had failed to ask. Secondly, I made the decision to become a stay-at-home mom; this allowed me some free time to take up a couple of hobbies, one being writing and the other genealogy. That was 10 years ago.

The public fumes

We do not need to imagine what the tunnels of the Metropolitan Railway were like as a growing number of steam locomotives poured through them from every direction since, once the initial enthusiasm for underground railway travel had waned, a number of contemporaries recorded their experiences of travelling through the dark, steaming, smoking tunnels. A letter to The Times described a journey in 1879:

July 2013's books

For centuries mistresses or ‘kept women’ have sauntered through life as symbols of power, pleasure and freedom. The women were, and often still are, viliﬁed by and kept separate from ’traditional’ society. But once a discerning gentlemen was under their spell, they lived a secret life of luxury and comfort and endless independence.

Lucky Dip

Family history is of course a discipline, requiring proper research skills and methodologies to be learned and a knowledge of specific archives to be learned over time. The fact remains, though, that sometimes it’s serendipity which can advance our research when a brick wall seems insurmountable.

Place in Focus: Dorset

Dorset will forever be associated with the writings of Thomas Hardy, whose novels evoke an essentially rural way of life, changing little even with the coming of the railways in his era. The county has traditionally had few large population centres - the major town of Bournemouth only joined the county from Hampshire in 1974

Break the Brick Walls: Marriage Certificates

Certiﬁcates of marriage contain the vital links you need to enable you to progress to the previous generation. Marriage was the only event recorded on the day that it occurred, and registered at the General Register Ofﬁce in the same quarter-year.

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,

Shaftesbury,

SP7 7BA

E: editor@discoveryourancestors.co.uk

W: www.discoveryourancestors.co.uk

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:

And Finally…

Tell a friend: we hope you enjoyed this issue of Discover Your Ancestors Periodical so much so that you will tell all your friends and family. At just £12 a year, this publication represents fantastic value for all budding family historians. You can also purchase a gift subscription of the Periodical for your friends and family – please email subs@discoveryourancestors.co.uk with 'Gift' in the subject line and your contact details, and we can discuss the best options with you.
Join our afﬁliate program: start earning money for every sale you send our way! See www.discoveryourancestors.co.uk/afﬁliate-program
Looking ahead: We would like to hear your views and family history stories: please write to editorial@discoveryourancestors.co.uk. In the next issue, look out for features on school registers, department stores, ﬁshermen on the River Thames and more.
Look out for Issue 4 of the Periodical at the end of July!

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.