Issue 41 Cover

Discover Your Ancestors

Issue 041

Issue 41 Cover

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Welcome to the September issue of Discover Your Ancestors Periodical, the family and social history magazine packed with fascinating insights into our ancestors’ lives and times.

You may well have spotted that this month marks 350 years since the Great Fire of London, and there’s a major exhibition reflecting that at the Museum of London. In this issue we have two features inspired by this subject – one looks at how the city itself was reimagined after so much of it had been destroyed; the other at how the fire led to the development of more organised fire fighting, both in the capital and across Britain.

And of course we have plenty more to explore, from a Waterloo veteran to the quiet, comfortable world of wealthy rural vicars. You can still pick up issue 5 of our printed edition in newsagents or online at discoveryourancestors.co.uk – it has more than 30 fresh articles, and loads of great data offers.

Enjoy this issue meanwhile. Andrew Chapman, Editor.

Articles

The great fire brigade of London

The great fire brigade of London

It is said that every disaster is an opportunity. And so it was with the devastating fire that swept through London in September 1666, bringing with it the realisation that an official, well-equipped firefighting organisation was needed to tackle any future incidents more quickly and efficiently.

1666 and all that

1666 and all that

The Great Fire of London was an accident waiting to happen. In the immediate aftermath of the Fire, the shocked and displaced citizens cast around for someone or something to blame. Some attributed it to divine wrath, others blamed foreigners. And then they did something at which the British excel: they formed committees.

A riot in rural Wales

A riot in rural Wales

Few of us find ourselves with a riot on our doorstep but that is what happened to Elizabeth Benbow in April 1839. In just five days, the local Chartists placed her home town of Llanidloes firmly in the history books.

Tracing the trails our ancestors leave behind

Tracing the trails our ancestors leave behind

While taking part in The Genealogist.co.uk’s Headstone project, to photograph and record the details of old graves before the memorials become so weathered as to be unreadable, I came across an interesting monument. I was in one of the churchyards in a quiet northern parish of the Channel Island of Jersey when I happened upon a tall but quite plain headstone. Unlike many of the old monuments that are to be found in our cemeteries worldwide, crumbling, broken or with the inscriptions being washed away by acid rain, this one had weathered reasonably well. Although lightly covered in lichens, this stone was in good condition – the sea air that had blow in from the Atlantic for near on a century and a half had yet to make the words indecipherable.

Roast beef and rain?

Roast beef and rain?

The aftermath of Brexit (together with the several recent atrocities across the channel) has recently brought the subject of Anglo-French relations sharply to mind. What the French thought of our ancestors and what our ancestors thought of the French is a subject with a long, complicated and fascinating history. There is no finer

An English eccentricity

An English eccentricity

The term ‘squarson’ is virtually unknown today. A combination of ‘squire’ and ‘parson’, the word reached its heyday in the reign of Queen Victoria, referring to the squire who doubled up as the village parson. A breed of Anglican clergymen noted for eccentricity, squarsons recorded the minutiae of rural life in their diaries and often earned fame in the wider world.

News for September 2016

News for September 2016

TheGenealogist.co.uk has added several new early military records. The Waterloo Roll Call of 1815 enables researchers to find ancestors within a list of nearly 4000 men, most of whom were officers present at the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium on June 18th 1815 under the Duke of Wellington – whose record we can find in this collection. You can search for your ancestors in The Waterloo Roll Call using title, forename, surname, regiment, rank, decoration and staff position.

History in the details: Male Shirts

History in the details: Male Shirts

The shirt is arguably the oldest and most fundamental article of dress in the male wardrobe. Ever since clothes were first constructed from woven textiles, men have worn a tunic-like inner garment, a washable layer preventing the soiling of outer clothes through direct contact with the body and protecting the skin from abrasion from the heavier fabrics of main garments.

Place in Focus- Worcestershire

Place in Focus- Worcestershire

Worcestershire was the heartland of the early English kingdom of the Hwicce, one of the peoples of Anglo- Saxon England. It was absorbed by the Kingdom of Mercia during the 7th century and then by the unified Kingdom of England from 927. The county includes the site of the Battle of Evesham in which Simon de Montfort was killed on 4 August 1265.

Books for September 2016

Books for September 2016

This is a fresh and colourful look at Shakespeare’s London published in the 400th anniversary year of the playwright’s death. Readers can explore the streets of Shakespeare’s London and see the sights he saw, while learning how people ate, drank, misbehaved and had fun. You will discover what it was like to be a tourist in the 16th century from the voices of people who came to London during Shakespeare’s day. You will travel with them to the major tourist sights and will learn how to get about, where to stay and what to eat and drink. You will visit the royal palaces, London s famous gardens, the Tower of London and Old St Paul’s Cathedral. You will discover the pleasure of London’s theatres, the sports people played and the shopping they enjoyed. Most of the London Shakespeare knew has been destroyed by fire, war and developers, but a surprising number of buildings and places which he knew still survive. The book contains guided tours which show you to sample the atmosphere and see the sights which Tudor tourists enjoyed. This title will appeal to Shakespeare lovers, social history fans, fiction and drama lovers, students and anyone with an interest in this fascinating era of London’s history.

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,

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E: [email protected]

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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.