The Midland Ancestor

61 Pages·2015·2.46 MB·English

The Midland Ancestor
Journal of the Birmingham and Midland Society
for Genealogy and Heraldry
Vol 18 No. 4 December 2015
Soho House Photograph by Victoria Horton
Birmingham and Midland Society for
Genealogy and Heraldry

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BMSGH Officers and Executive Committee
Patron Prof Carl S.A. Chinn MBE PhD FRSA
FBirmSoc
President Dr Chris Leigh
Honorary Life Vice-Presidents Mrs Pauline Pedersen FSG
Mr Harry Leigh-Dugmore BSc CPhys
FInstP FIM
Chairman Mr. Bernie McLean
Vice-Chairman - Genealogy Mr Clive Hall
Vice Chairman - Heraldry Mr Adrian P.S. de Redman FSAScot,
HonFHS
Treasurer/Programme Secretary Mr Peter Middleton
General Secretary Mrs Jackie Cotterill
Committee Members Mr Chris Evetts
Mr Steve Freeman
Mr. P.J. Lamb
Mrs Olive Haddleton
Dr Anthony P. Joseph MA, MB,
BChir (Cantab) FSG
Mrs. Anne Brown
Outings Secretary Mr P.J. Lamb
Journal Editor Mrs Deryn Hawkes
Subscriptions Secretary Mrs Olive Haddleton
Lending Librarian Miss Marion Hall
Reference Librarian Mrs. Mary McLean
Chairman Projects Committee Mr Tony Bowers
©BMSGH 2015
The Midland Ancestor December 2015
The Birmingham and Midland Society
for Genealogy and Heraldry
(Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire)
An affiliated Society of the Birmingham and Midland
Institute and a member of the Federation of
Family History Societies
Founded 1963
Registered as a Charity No. 505916
The Midland Ancestor Vol 18 No 4 December 2015
Contents
Chairman’s Report ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Bernie McLean ... ... ... ... 154
Useful Websites … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 155
General Secretary’s Report … … … … Jackie Cotterill … … … … 156
Editors Report … … … … … … … Deryn Hawkes … … … … 157
Libraries ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Marion Hall ... ... ... ... ... ... 158
Lichfield Census 1871 … … … … . Caroline Mason … … … … 159
Answering the Bugle’s Call … … … SSAFA … … … … … … 160
IHGS … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 161
Curiosities of Parish Records … … … Nigel Bird … … … … … 162
The Fitz-Hugh Family Story - Pt.3 … … Dirk Fitz-Hugh … … … … 163
Letter from Pozieres 1916 … … … … Queensland Times … … … 168
St. Barnabas, Erdington, Burial Registers 1879-1900 … … … … … .. 169
BMSGH London Branch … … … … … Lesley Exton… … … … … 170
BMSGH Indexes … … … … … … Bernie McLean … … … … 171
A Myth, A Theorie and Mistakes … … June Taylor … … … … … 173
St. Michael’s, Coventry, Bishops Transcripts … … … … … … … … 175
Members Interests Directory … … … …Haydn Lewis … … … … 176
Payne, Chairmaker … … … … … … … Gordon A. Payne … … … 178
Bromsgrove Rousler Magazine 1992-2009 … … … … … … … … … 180
Curiosities of the Kings English … … … … … … … … … .. … … 180
SSAFA 1914 Homefront Records … … …Michael Ivatt … … … … … 181
BMSGH London Branch Meetings … …David Kerr… … … … … … 182
The Link Scheme … … … … … … Elaine Zair .. … … … … … 182
1940 Blitz of Birmingham … … … … Jacqui Fielding … … … … 183
Programme Preview … … … … … … Peter Middleton … … … … 186
Coach Trips … … … … … … … … Phil Lamb … … … … … … 187
Coach Trips 2016 … … … … … … Phil Lamb … … … … … … 188
WDYTYA Live 2016 … … … … … Phil Lamb … … … … … … 189
Worcestershire Militia … … … … … Janet Byard-Jones … … … 190
Warwickshire Local History Society … … … … … … … … … … 194
Bookworm … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 195
Manorial Documents Update … … … Jonathan Cates … … … … 198
Extracts from the London Gazette … … … … … … … … … … … 199
Editor:Mrs. Deryn Hawkes, 189 Pinewood Park, Farnborough, Hampshire GU14 9LQ
©BMSGH and Authors. All rights reserved
No reproduction permitted without the prior permission of the publishers
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The Midland Ancestor December 2015
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
Bernie McLean
Many of you will remember a TN drama series called
‘Waking the Dead’ about a team of forensic scientists.
In some ways this title also describes what we do as
family historians. Perhaps what family historians do
could be better described as ‘Connecting the Dead’.
But in the early stages of our research, we are ‘Con-
necting the Dead to the Living, and herein may lie a problem.
We must not overlook the constraints of the Data Protection Act (DPA). The DPA
is intended to limit the amount of information that can be revealed or published
about an individual who is alive (or, to be more exact, who is not known to be
dead). Sometimes our research turns up information about people who are still
alive, or may be alive. An obvious example of this is a 20th century death
certificate which gives the name and address of the informant.
So what constitutes identifying an individual? The Information Commissioner’s
Office (ICO) says an individual is ‘identified’ if you have distinguished that
individual from other members of a group. It states that an individual’s name,
together with some other information, may be sufficient to identify them. A name
on its own does not identify a person. On a marriage certificate, for example,
parents’ names, full address and occupation could be sufficient extra information,
unless the name is common.
Organisations such as family history societies must consider the extent of the
personal information, and the period of the information that they intend to make
readily available to the public. The standard ‘closure period’ used by the ICO is
based on a lifetime of 100 years adjusted by a figure represented by the individu-
al’s age at the time of the event/document.
Members of North West Kent Family History Society (NWKFHS) have spent
some time researching the significance of the various rules from the various
statutory bodied, and how they impact on the genealogy world. Their draft
proposal has now been accepted by the Federation of Family History Societies
(FFHS) as general guidance.
Here follows a much condensed list of how some records are affected by the
closure period:
Census post-1911 Records closed
Death & Burial Records with informant details 84 years or the lifetime of
the informant
School Records - Staff 84 years
School Records - Pupils 96 years
Hospital and Asylum Records - Staff 84 years
Hospital and Asylum Records - Patients 100 years
Workhouse records naming individuals 100 years
Juvenile and adoption registers 100 years
Children’s Homes records naming individuals 100 years
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The Midland Ancestor December 2015
Coroner’s Records 75 years
Deeds 84 years
Court Records - adult 30 years
The 1939 identity card register, which is soon to be released, will be fully open
because certain information will be redacted (hidden).
My thanks go to North West Kent Family History Society for their hard work on
this subject.
One of the places that you could come across closed records is in the Archives
Department at the Library of Birmingham. David Wall has advised on the method
that he uses to overcome the ‘Catch 22’ situation that I referred to in my report
last quarter. If you want to get into the Wolfson Research Centre, you stand at the
often impenetrable door holding your CARN card up to the glass and knock to
draw the attention of the staff at the reception desk. Magic! Thank you David.
Unfortunately, David didn’t say what to do if you hadn’t yet got your CARN card,
which are available inside the Research Centre. Ah! . . . déjà vu.
Bernie McLean
Useful Web Sites
www.nls.uk/
National Library of Scotland maps. Ordnance Survey (O.S.) Maps of England,
Scotland and Wales in various scales ‘Free’ to view and download.
www.llgc.org.uk
National Library of Wales (Dual language) many records for the genealogist
including marriage bonds, wills (inc. some Cheshire ones) etc available to view
online and download ‘Free’
www.rootschat.com
Roots Chat is a forum for family historians sharing and resolving genealogical
issues including the infamous brick walls. Many people on this site offer to do
look ups in various records, or you can simply request a look up, if you get
lucky someone will reply with the required info or point you in the right
direction. It’s all Free, no catches. I’ve found this forum very useful when
someone has access to parish registers that are not available on line.
www.londonfamilyhistory.org
This is part of the Latter Day Saints resources and focus is on records appertain-
ing to the Great Briston as well as Caribbean records, Jewish records, Channel
Islands, Indian sub-continent and more.
www.originaldatabases.co.uk
All nominal data from the following parish magazines is freely available at the
above site. Search by surname and variants, results indicate the source used.
Edgbaston - St. George 1884 - 12 magazines - 1437 entries
Stratford on Avon - Holy Trinity etc - 1886-8 - 36 magazines - 4852 entries
Caverswall - PC - 1880 - 12 magazines - 641 entries
Walsall Wood - St John’s etc - 1897 - 12 magazines - 858 entries
Kenilworth - St Nicholas etc - 1878 - 12 magazines - 796 entries
Bushbury and Essington - St Mary - 1876 - 12 magazines - 431 entries
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The Midland Ancestor December 2015
GENERAL SECRETARY’S
REPORT
Jackie Cotterill
I
t’s that time of year again, when we are asking
for money - namely your subscriptions. In the
centre of this journal you will find the renewal
form, together with a Gift Aid form, Standing Order form and Data Protection
form.
Bernie has already dealt with the DP form in his Forward, so that leaves the
renewal form, gift aid form and standing order form.
You can, if you wish, renew via the Society’s online shop www.bmsgh-
shop.org.uk thereby saving the cost of cheque, envelope and stamp AND at the
same time, if you are a UK Tax Payer, you can complete the Gift Aid form. This
simple act allows the Society to claim back 25p in every £ in Tax, which is then
used to fund our ongoing projects.
If you don’t want to think about renewing every January, why not complete the
standing order form to give to your bank. The standing order form, as opposed
to a direct debit, is controlled by you, and which you can cancel at any time.
There is also a tick box to indicate that you would like to receive your journal
electronically.
The latest ‘buzz’ word is ‘OUTREACH’ and as part of our Outreach pro-
gramme we do like to attend various family history fairs, mainly in the Mid-
lands, but sometimes outside our area. I recently attended Oxford FHS’s fair at
Kidlington and was delighted to meet some of you that came in to see us.
Apart from WDYTYA, which will again be at the NEC, 7-9 April 2016, so far,
we are also planning to attend the Sheffield FH fair on 21 May, and also the
Dorset FH Day on 12 March 2016. BUT we can only do this with the help of
Volunteers to help man the stands. If you are local to either area and would like
to come along and help, why not get in touch. We can’t offer any pay, but we
can offer a good day out talking to like minded people.
Finally, Steve is asking for volunteers to help him with the second hand books.
He needs somebody who understands computers and is able to put the details of
our second hand books on the shop webpage. This is something that can be done
from home so, if you live near Steve (Solihull), please get in touch with him.
Jackie Cotterill
Frontispiece: Our cover photograph this time is of the 18th century Soho House,
Handsworth, the home of Matthew Boulton, a member of the Lunar Society, from
1766-1809. The BMSGH Stourbridge branch had an outing on 20th August 2014 to see
over this beautiful building.
The photograph was submitted by Stourbridge member Victoria Horton.
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The Midland Ancestor December 2015
EDITOR’S REPORT
Deryn Hawkes
I
must first explain the reason why the image of a
ruined castle in Hampshire appeared on the front
cover of the September issue.
These ruins are along the Basingstoke Canal at Odiham and the castle is
situated half way between Winchester and Windsor. It was built during King
John’s rein and details of the expenditure survive in the Pipe Rolls and the cost
over a seven year period was around £1000. More information can be found
on the Hampshire County Council sitewww.hants.gov.uk
There are a couple of corrections to advise you of from previous items.
In Vol 17 No 13 page 622. In this article it was stated that the Herald (1583)
Robert Cooke was noted for his physical abuse of staff and disruption at the
College of Arms. This is incorrect. The author was getting him confused with
a contemporary of his, the Herald William Dethick, a violent man who even
stabbed his own brother.
In Vol 17 no 15 page 728 the first character mentioned,Rachel Totty was born
in Albrighton, Shropshire about 1715 not Tettenhall 1725 as stated.
The Executive Committee
of the BMSGH
Wish all Members and their families
A Merry Christmas
and
Successful hunting for 2016
THE MIDLAND ANCESTOR
March 2016 Issue
All contributors please note that the deadline for
receipt of copy for this issue will be
MONDAY 11th January 2016
157
©BMSGH 2015
The Midland Ancestor December 2015
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The Midland Ancestor December 2015
Lichfield 1871 Census
Numbers 1-7 George Lane
Ref. RG10/2913, folio 130 Page 1
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©BMSGH 2015