Introducing Manorial Records

Ian Waller • £8.95
familyhistorybooksonline.com

For centuries, the lives of our ancestors were controlled by the lord of the manor and this continued until their final demise in 1922. Manorial records are an important source of information providing a fascinating insight of the day-to-day life of most of our ancestors.

Manors had countless officials, rules and regulations; they also held courts to deal with transgressions and to uphold the local laws. The records generated contain hundreds of people providing researchers with a treasure trove of names, some of whom could be one of their ancestors. Every person associated with the manor –urban or rural – will likely be named.

This introductory guide to manorial documents will unlock the mysteries of the manor and all its records leading readers through the process, explaining what you need to know and when you need to know it; where the documents can be found and how to interpret them so that you can use manorial documents to develop the history of your family.

The Nonconformist Revolution

Amanda J Thomas • £20
pen-and-sword.co.uk

The Nonconformist Revolution explores the evolution of dissenting thought and how Nonconformity shaped the transformation of England from a rural to an urban, industrialised society.

The foundations for the Industrial Revolution were in place from the late Middle Ages when the early development of manufacturing processes and changes in the structure of rural communities began to provide opportunities for economic and social advancement. Successive waves of Huguenot migrants and the influence of Northern European religious ideology also played an important role in this process. The Civil Wars would provide a catalyst for the dissemination of new ideas and help shape the emergence of a new English Protestantism and divergent dissident sects. The persecution which followed strength-ened the Nonconformist cause, and for the early Quakers it intensified their unity and resilience, qualities which would prove to be invaluable for business.

In the years following the Restoration, Nonconformist ideas fuelled enlightened thought creating an environment for enterprise but also a desire for more radical change. Reformers seized on the plight of a working poor alienated by innovation and frustrated by false promises. The vision which was at first the spark for innovation would ignite revolution.

A Boyhood Under Nazi Occupation

Jan Duijvestein • £29.99
eerpublishing.com

The power of these first-hand and well-illustrated recollections about a boyhood in occupied Holland lies in their extraordinary ordinariness.

As the fourth child of a large Catholic family in The Hague, Jan was spared the horrors of true persecution by the Nazis. Yet his detailed memories of deprivation and dread vividly conjure up the harshness of Dutch life under Hitler’s cruel rule.

Young Jan was roughly Anne Frank’s age during the war. Published here for the first time, his wartime memories preserve yet another child witness to adult injustice. Touching and surprisingly witty, his stories demonstrate how danger and domesticity go hand-in-hand during wartime.

Fashion and Material Culture in Victorian Fiction and Periodicals

Janine Hatter and Nickianne Moody • £39.99
eerpublishing.com

This attractively illustrated collabora-tive work examines dress, style and performance as a significant pleasure of fiction. It illuminates many significant factors of Victorian life. The book examines the ways in which Victorian writers, illustrators, periodicals, designers and clothing manufacturers have critiqued the social ideologies inherent in dress, fashion and imaginative engagement with clothes.

This is the first volume in the New Paths in Victorian Popular Fiction and Culture series being published by EER. The series comprises specially commissioned work based on innovative or under-researched perspectives on Victorian literature and culture.