Discover Your Ancestors Review

Launching a new family history publication may be considered a brave step by some following the recent demise of the online Discover My Past (back issues still available), and the much lamented Family History Monthly.   

However, the new Discover Your Ancestors Periodical is hoping to build on the success of the glossy annual bookazine, available from newsagents or the publisher. The monthly magazine is published in association with theGenealogist.

The first issue (May) had an article on tracking down archives by expert author Simon Fowler, social history articles on the early aviators and on child labour, a look at records available for Essex, book reviews and more.The June issue focussed on the suffragette movement, records for the legendary Dambusters squadron, how to research Welsh Anglican and Nonconformist ancestors, plus a look at Birmingham resources and more.

Looking at the first two issues, I would say that the magazine is initially aimed at those starting out in family history.  However, hardened campaigners should still find the social history articles and focus on particular records valuable, particularly if you like to put your ancestors’ lives in context. Next month's features are listed here, including one on vaccination registers by yours truly.

Subscribers can download the whole magazine in pdf. format or you can just browse each article online. Unfortunately I can’t comment on how easy the magazine is to read on mobile devices as I am old-fashioned and just use my phone for texts and calls!

The monthly periodical is 20 pages long, fully illustrated, and comes with free subscriber data.  It costs £1 per month (£12 for a year’s subscription). 
This compares with £4.99 for BBC Who Do You Think You Are? (100 pages long).  Your Family History and Family Tree are both £4.99 I think (the latter is £3.99 for its digital edition).  These magazines also have subscriber offers and offer free data sets.

As always with the family history magazines, I think which you choose very much depends on your budget, how experienced a researcher you are, and which datasets are useful for your personal research.  You may like to flit between each magazine according to which records are being discussed that month, or you may prefer to treat yourself to a subscription so that you don’t have to remember to buy it each month, and so that you can keep up with the latest news.  

Do you prefer a print magazine which you can thumb through (in or out of the bath!), or do you prefer to read articles on your mobile device or PC?  I’d love to hear your views!

Health and Safety ‘Gone Mad’?

My latest feature for Discover My Past is on the factory inspectorate - it has tips on finding records relating to the factory acts which can help shed light on your ancestors' lives.
‘Health and safety’ legislation is sometimes satirised today for excessive caution – the ‘nanny state’. But early factories were dirty and ill-ventilated. Unguarded machinery killed and injured thousands of workers, young and old. The first factory inspectors fought mill-owners’ hostility and public apathy to make factories safer and ensure children were not over-worked.
Mill-owners used women and children as cheap labour. Working hours were incredibly long (fourteen hours or more in Yorkshire). Children did not have time to go to day school.
The Factory Act of 1833, an educational measure, set a minimum age of nine years. It limited hours for children and young people in textile mills (with some exceptions). Night work was banned, and children must have two hours’ schooling per day. Inspectors were appointed to enforce the legislation.
But many industries were left unregulated for decades, despite calls for reform by Lord Shaftesbury and other reformers. Children and teenagers endured miserable conditions in brick-making, straw-plaiting, the metals industries, and so on.
Why did it take so long for change to come? These children’s needs were ignored or forgotten by society – the nation’s prosperity was considered too important to trifle with.
You can find out more about the bitter battle for change fought by Lord Shaftesbury, the factory inspectors, and other reformers in The Children History Forgot.

Images:

India Mill, Darwen. Cotton spinning factory built in the mid-1860s. © Sue and Nigel Wilkes.

Edward Bryon’s proposed guard (lower diagram) for steam-presses following horrific accidents in the sanitary pipe industry. Steam presses used a steam-powered piston to press out sections of earthenware pipe. Boys fed each machine with clay using a shovel or their hands. Twenty workers were injured at Ruabon between 1870-5; some workers lost a hand, including Thomas Griffiths and John George at Plas Kynaston Tile-works. They were only fourteen years old. Reports of the Inspectors of Factories for the Half-Year ending 31 October 1875 (1876).

Cheshire Salt Ancestors

A quick reminder that my latest feature for Discover My Past England this month is filled with tips on how to trace your ancestors if they worked in the Cheshire salt industry. You can also read the story of the industry during Georgian times in my book Regency Cheshire.

Image: Marston Salt Pit: The Shaft, Illustrated London News, 24 Aug 1850

Silk and Stewarts

It’s been so long since I’ve had time to update my blog that I’ve got lots of news!

First and most importantly, my son Gareth has just won a silver medal at the International Physics Olympiad in Croatia! Well done and congratulations to Gareth and all the other British team members for such as sterling effort, and a big thank you to his Croatian hosts for looking after him so well.

My book ‘Stolen Childhoods’ has gone in the post at last, so a big thank you is due to all my family for putting up with me while I’ve been glued to the PC for weeks.

The Highlander has just published my feature ‘Banned to Beloved’ which discusses the pacification of the Highlands and the impact on the clans’ traditional way of life, and tartan’s triumphant return thanks to Sir Walter Scott and others.

You can also read my hints and tips on tracing your silk ancestors in the July issue of  Discover My Past England, and on tracing your Stewart (Stuart) ancestors in this month’s Discover My Past Scotland.

Images:

Mary Queen of Scots. Scotland Picturesque and Traditional, Cassell & Co. Ltd, 1895. (Artist unknown, author George Eyre-Todd.)

A Highland Outpost. Engraving after the painting by John Pettie for Good Words, 1893.

December fashions, 1837. Morning visiting dress of fawn-coloured silk with pink satin hat. Ladies’ Cabinet of Fashion, Music and Romance, Vol. XII, 1837.

All images from the author’s collection.

Douglas! Douglas!

I am really looking forward to my visit to Waterstone's in Chester tomorrow to sign copies of Regency Cheshire - I just hope the weather stays as sunny as it is today.
My feature on the story of the famous Douglas Clan has just been published in Discover My Past Scotland, so check it out if you need some tips on finding your Douglas ancestors.

Image: The legendary Catherine Douglas. She tried to bar the door against the ruthless assassins hunting James I. Catherine was one of Queen Joan’s maids of honour. The King died from many wounds, but Catherine survived, although her arm was broken. It’s said Catherine was afterwards known as Barlass (from ‘bar the door, lass’). Unknown artist, Pictorial Record of Remarkable Events, Frederick Warne & Co., 1896.

Chester’s Ancient Rows

Chester’s famous Rows have attracted visitors to the city for centuries. The Rows are situated on Watergate St, Eastgate St and Northgate St, Bridge St and (in earlier times) Lower Bridge St. Antiquarian Thomas Pennant was greatly intrigued by the Rows’ peculiar construction, which probably dates back to the mid-thirteenth century; carved stone under-crofts are still visible inside some shops. As time went by, the Row architecture fell in and out of fashion; writers such as Celia Fiennes and Daniel Defoe thought the Rows looked ugly. In Regency Cheshire , the Rows were extremely prosperous; all the best shops were found there.

Chester lost one Row without warning in 1821. Part of Lamb Row fell into the street ‘with a loud crash’ and ‘an immense volume of dust’ (Gentleman’s Magazine, December 1824.) Luckily, no-one was injured.

Chester historian Joseph Hemingway, writing in 1831, described how old dilapidated shop fronts were replaced by shining glass windows and elegant new shops: ‘drapers, clothiers, jewellers, perfumers, booksellers as respectable as the kingdom can produce.’ William and Henry Brown, silk mercers and milliners, opened a splendid new shop in Eastgate Row which was compared with ‘the magnificence of Regent St.’  There are tips for researching your Chester and Cheshire family history in my Chester feature in this month’s Discover My Past England.

Images from author’s collection: The Rows on Eastgate St, Chester. Saturday Magazine, 1836.
Lamb Row, Chester, built c.1655 by Randle Holme on the west side of Bridge St. It collapsed in 1821. Gentleman’s Magazine (Supplement), December 1824.

Scotland’s Pride

Heavy snow is forecast later today; I hope it will somehow miss us. Spring seems like a long way away… the last few winters, spring bulbs have been peeking above ground before Christmas, but I haven’t spotted any yet this year.
My latest feature on Sir Walter Scott is in Discover My Past Scotland now. Scott would have been thrilled Scotland has its own Parliament nowadays (currently debating its budget), but I wonder if the Parliament Building would be to his taste? I suspect he would prefer a more traditional design, perhaps something along the style of his house at Abbotsford.

Images: Abbotsford, Sir Walter Scott’s home. History of England, Charles Knight, (London, c.1868.)

The Scottish Regalia. Scott was instrumental in recovering the long-lost Scottish regalia. He got permission from the Prince Regent (later George IV) to search in Edinburgh Castle for the lost treasure in 1818. Black’s Picturesque Tourist of Scotland (24th edition), (A& C Black, 1882.)

Cottonopolis

I was annoyed to find I’d missed Michael Portillo’s Great British Railway Journeys again last night, following in the footsteps of Salford’s George Bradshaw. The programme is on ridiculously early in the evening, just when I am usually cooking tea for the family, and I have only caught the last few minutes of some episodes. There was a programme about the importance of the cotton industry and Cottonopolis (Manchester) which I would like to see again – it is not the same watching it on i-player. Mr Portillo is going to visit the Scottish Borders tonight (one of my favourite places) in tonight’s programme so I must remember to set up the video recorder.
My feature for Discover My Past England this month is about tracing your cotton ancestors. Although the cotton industry is indelibly associated with Manchester and Lancashire, there were cotton mills in Cheshire, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire and other counties. Your local archives are good places to find company wage books or pension records; check their online catalogues first before making a special journey.

Image: Lancashire Cotton Weaving shed, early 20th C. postcard. Author’s collection.

Making history come alive

As usual, I watched this week's episode of Neil Oliver's History of Scotland with huge interest, especially as this programme's subject was spookily prescient of a topic I will be covering in a future issue of Discover My Past Scotland - Sir Walter Scott and his influence on our perception of Scotland's culture and people. His novels made Scotland's history come alive for readers all over the world. It was great to see Scott's Conundrum Castle, his affectionate name for his home in the Scottish Borders. A large section of the programme was dedicated to the tragedy of the Highland clearances and the rapacity of the Scottish lairds.
Scott was staunchly Conservative in his politics and view of Scottish history. He regarded Radical politics with horror. Sir Walter visited the silk towns of Cheshire during the trade depression of 1826. He wrote in his diary that unemployment and hunger had rendered the lower classes 'desperately outrageous.'
Image: Sir Walter Scott, 1822. Engraving by William Darton. Author's collection.

Discover My Past England

Great news for family history fans with the launch of Discover My Past England! This is a 'must-see' if you are researching your ancestors. My first feature for this exciting new online magazine is 'Voices from the past,' which looks at how you can explore how your ancestors lived and worked using parliamentary papers. While I was researching Regency Cheshire and Narrow Windows, Narrow Lives I made some fascinating discoveries about the lives of Cheshire and Lancashire textile workers.

Image: Cotton weaving shed in Lancashire. Early 20th century postcard (Author’s collection.)

Photo: Macclesfield Heritage Centre, formerly the Sunday School which opened in 1813. © Sue and Nigel Wilkes.

History of Scotland

I am really looking forward to the new series of Neil Oliver's History of Scotland on BBC2 tonight, especially as he will be covering the story of the Covenanters' persecution which I covered recently for Discover My Past. The last series was beautifully presented, and I am hoping he will be visiting some of my favourite haunts in south west Scotland.

A Royal Love Affair

Queen Victoria first visited Scotland in 1842, in search of peace and quiet after surviving two attempts on her life that year. Victoria found her spiritual home in the tranquil, spectacular Highland scenery; it was the start of a love affair which lasted a lifetime.
The queen loved watching the local Highland games. In 1851, a writer for the Illustrated London News, reporting on the Braemar Gathering, commented on how times had changed: ‘From the time the Earl of Mar raised the standard of rebellion in 1715, almost within gunshot of where Victoria now has her Highland home, down to the fatal battle of Culloden, the Highland clans were mustered in strong force when the signal was passed through the glens…now…the signal to rally is the olive branch, and the clansmen muster to show off their Highland dress, and disport themselves in harmless Highland games’ (20 September 1851). You can find out more about Queen Victoria’s love for all things Scottish in my latest feature for Discover My Past Scotland.

Image: Highland ball in Braemar Castle – the clans’ reel. Illustrated London News, 20 September 1851.

Covenanter Ancestors

Just a quick update: my feature ‘The Killing Times’ in the November issue of Discover My Past Scotland is available now. It tells the story of those terrible days in Scotland in the 17th century when ordinary Scots were persecuted and executed for their beliefs. The feature also has tips and hints for anyone tracing their Covenanter ancestors.

The rage for emigration

This month is the tercentenary of Dr Samuel Johnson (1709-1784). Johnson, the son of a Lichfield bookseller, had an immense sympathy and understanding with the common man. He endured grinding poverty for many years, but his profound intellect and writing ability won him a lasting literary reputation. His masterly Dictionary of the English Language (1755) alone would have secured him an honourable place in literary history. But of course, Johnson’s meeting in 1763 with an impressionable young Scot, James Boswell, led to a lasting friendship and a ground-breaking literary biography: Boswell’s Life of Johnson (1791).

During the late summer and autumn of 1773, this intrepid duo travelled to the Hebrides. Their journey took place when many Scottish folk were taking ship for the Americas in search of a new life. Johnson described how ordinary Scots lived and immortalised a now long-lost way of life in his Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland in 1775; Boswell’s Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides appeared ten years later.

Was one of your ancestors one of those who left their native land forever? You can discover more about their way of life, and tips for exploring your family history, in ‘The rage for emigration,’ my latest feature for Discover My Past magazine.

Images: ‘Johnson on a Highland Sheltie,’ and ‘Johnson and Highland children.' Boswell spotted one pretty girl, but commented the other villagers were ‘black and wild in their appearance.’ Boswell’s Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, (National Illustrated Library, circa 1852.)

Redcoat Rampage!

I’ve just returned from a lovely holiday in Scotland. This year we had a week in the Dunbar area, followed by a week in Grantown on Spey, one of our favourite places. The time just flew by as my family and I explored Scotland’s fantastic scenery and history.

On our way home we passed the stark ruins of Ruthven Barracks. After Bonnie Prince Charlie’s defeat at Culloden in 1746, the shattered remnants of Jacobite force gathered here. But they waited in vain for their leader; the prince never came. You can find out more about the aftermath of Culloden and ‘Butcher’ Cumberland’s ruthless repression of Highland folk in ‘Redcoat Rampage,’ my latest feature for family history magazine Discover My Past Scotland.
Image: Ruthven Barracks. © Sue and Nigel Wilkes.

City of Culture

This is Scotland’s Homecoming year, and there are lots of celebrations planned in Edinburgh for this summer. Robert Burns called Edinburgh ‘Scotia’s Darling’, and the city has long been renowned as a centre for literature and learning. Burns, James Boswell and Sir Walter Scott are just a few of Scotland’s literary stars who lived there. You can find out more about Edinburgh and its history in my new feature for Scottish family history magazine Discover My Past Scotland.

Image: Statue of Burns (by Flaxman) in the National Gallery. The statue was originally in the monument to Burns on Calton Hill. Black’s Picturesque Tourist of Scotland (24th edition), (A& C Black, 1882.)