Hilary Blanford is the Chairman of East Surrey FHS and Secretary of Medway Branch of our Society. She became hooked on family history around the age of 15 and once work stopped getting in the way she began her research in earnest, exploring record offices and having fun all the while. Using examples from within her own family history Hilary discussed various sources we might find helpful.
Hilary cited the case of her 3 x great grandmother whose death was registered by her daughter in law. During her solving of this mystery, she found that the daughter in law had ended up in a Lunatic Asylum. Locating records for this Asylum was fairly easy so Hilary visited the appropriate Archive. This was in the days when she was very much a novice and trying to do it on her own was proving difficult until she accepted help from Archive staff. The moral of that story was, accept help when offered but also, and more importantly, don’t dismiss someone because the details are not exactly as you expect.
Asylum patients were often sent many miles from home so the details could well be second or even third hand. Addresses and ages can sometimes be quite different. Some Asylum records are easily found but others may be much harder to track down. The other thing to be aware of is the 100-year rule for allowing the publication of personal records. Therefore, you will be unlikely to find more recent records online, and you may need to prove your relationship to the patient before you will be allowed to see their records in an archive. If the records are in a book rather than loose-leaf, even when attending in person, the relevant pages may need to be photocopied to keep other people’s records protected. The appointment of senior Asylum staff was approved by the Poor Law Commissioners and these records should be in the National Archives, if they exist. Other useful websites for Asylums include: www.countyasylums.co.uk/the-asylum-list/
The next discussion was about photos that many archives hold. Several places are putting these on line, for instance https://boroughphotos.org/lambeth/ was one that Hilary had used. [Unfortunately, Kent doesn’t have any online] These can be very useful for identifying exactly where your Ancestor lived and putting them into the social context. The Tower Hamlets site was another resource that Hilary had used www.ideastore.co.uk/digital-gallery-search
Merchant Navy Ancestors and their widows often appear in Trinity House Pensions records which are available at the Society of Genealogists; although the Petitions are on Find My Past. The National Archives has Coal Trade Registers and also ‘Letters of Marque’ to find out more about various ships. Lloyds lists contain details of shipping and is available at the Guildhall Library (along with other maritime records) and also online at: www.maritimearchives.co.uk/lloyds-list.html The London Gazette contains details of Prize Money awarded and is searchable on line: www.thegazette.co.uk/
A full list of the City of London Apprentice Records may be found at the London Metropolitan Archives; those on Ancestry are only part of the sum total of these records. Also useful are the records of London's Guilds or Livery Companies: www.londonroll.org .
The Old Bailey records were next discussed: www.oldbaileyonline.org/forms/formMain.jsp Hilary advised that your ancestor doesn’t have to been a criminal to appear in these, as the names of witnesses are also given and it is often possible to find out quite a lot about them.
Hilary emphasised that it’s worthwhile to revisit websites every 3 or 4 months as those mentioned are often updated regularly.
Report by Sheila Harris