New Release: Tracing Your Manchester and Salford Ancestors

I'm thrilled to announce that Tracing Your Manchester and Salford Ancestors has been released early! It's currently on special offer here on the Pen & Sword website, and should soon be in stock on Amazon.

Suffragist Lydia E. Becker.

Here's the blurb:
'For readers with family ties to Manchester and Salford, and researchers delving into the rich history of these cities, this informative, accessible guide will be essential reading and a fascinating source of reference. 
    Sue Wilkes outlines the social and family history of the region in a series of concise chapters. She discusses the origins of its religious and civic institutions, transport systems and major industries. Important local firms and families are used to illustrate aspects of local heritage, and each section directs the reader towards appropriate resources for their research. No previous knowledge of genealogy is assumed and in-depth reading on particular topics is recommended. The focus is on records relating to Manchester and Salford, including current districts and townships, and sources for religious and ethnic minorities are covered. A directory of the relevant archives, libraries, academic repositories, databases, societies, websites and places to visit, is a key feature of this practical book'.

Salford hero Mark Addy.

Tomorrow, I'm visiting the WDYTYA Live! show at the NEC, and if all goes to plan, I'll be signing copies of my new book at the Pen & Sword stand. Hope to see you there!

Black-and-white images from Manchester Faces and Places, Vol. I, J.G. Hammond & Co., c.1889. 

Manchester New Synagogue and Beth Hamedrash, Cheetham Hill.

Tracing Your Ancestors' Childhood reviews

 'Sue Wilkes has produced a very detailed book on how to trace your ancestors’ childhood...The book is divided into two parts. The first is in chapters, each dealing with issues that might affect a child’s life; e.g. The Poor Law, Growing up at Work, Education and, very topically, Children in Wartime. This detailed book will help to provide a broad brush picture of life for your ancestors as children in a particular period. The second part of the book is a Research Guide which lists many of those Archives and Repositories. It lists useful addresses, twelve pages of web-sites (some free!), Education Sources and more, under helpful group headings...definitely one for your bookshelf to dip into now and in the future as a reference source'. Ann Gynes, FFHS, December 2013. 

'Over the years, many books have described how children and young people lived in the past. Many others have  shown us technically how to trace the lives of our ancestors of one sort or another.  This book does both, pulling off the now fashionable - and, it must be said, deeply satisfying - meshing of the two genres of social history and genealogy with aplomb.
While Wilkes helpfully begins by recapping on the basic genealogical sources (censuses, certificates and parish records), these soon take an almost subsidiary place among a panoply of other illuminating records from the archives. From cradle rolls and vaccination records, to school exemption certificates, apprenticeship books and records of transportation, 19th and 20th century sources for the study of childhood and youth seem endless...
The eight chapters of part one, themed around different aspects of social history, are vibrantly written, peppered with examples and 'case studies' of real youngsters who grin or grimace briefly at us from the records.
The second half of the book is an unrivalled resource pack for the family historian on the location and accessibility of relevant archives and repositories, as well as list of useful websites, addresses and places to visit...
While child mortality is obviously discussed, the emphasis here is on the way young people of the past survived and triumphed over their varied early experiences, to the point where they grew up and were able to become our ancestors'.  Ruth A. Symes, Who Do You Think You Are?, November 2013.

Lives of the First World War

Exciting news today for genealogists and historians researching World War One! The Imperial War Museum and brightsolid, the online publishing and technology arm of publishing group DC Thomson, are working in partnership to create Lives of the First World War.  This innovative and interactive digital platform is in honour of the First World War centenary next year.

Lives of the First World War will become a permanent digital memorial to more than 8 million men and women from across Britain and the Commonwealth, and will be an amazing digital legacy for future generations.

You can watch a short film here about the new digital platform, and find out how to get involved here.  When the site goes fully live, people will be able to upload images and stories about their WWI ancestors. Even if you don't have a family connection, volunteers will be needed to help with checking/transcribing/indexing records.






Images:
Photo montage, 'Lives of the First World War'.
WWI pilots ( IWM E(AUS)2661).
Private W. C. Tickle. His mother's handwritten note on the photograph (taken a few days before his death) describes him as "One of the very best". Pte Tickle is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. (IWM HU 93549).

All images © IWM.

Tracing Your Ancestors’ Childhood

My forthcoming book Tracing Your Ancestors’ Childhood, which will be published by Pen & Sword this September, is now available for pre-order from Amazon UK!

The first part of Tracing Your Ancestors’ Childhood and Education explores children’s experiences at home, school, work and in institutions.  In Victorian times, children and young people formed a far higher proportion of the population than the present.  In 2009, twenty per cent of the UK’s population was under sixteen years old.  In 1841, thirty-six per cent of the population of England was under fifteen.  If you could travel back in time and walk down a Victorian street or explore a factory, you would be struck by how many children and teenagers were present.  Many thousands of children lived in institutions, too: in 1840, 22,300 children aged nine to sixteen were workhouse inmates.

In my book, I discuss childhood records in detail such as poor law records, apprenticeship indentures, school registers, criminal records, wartime records, child migrant records (including evacuees), and so on. 

The second part of the book is a directory of archives and specialist repositories, and children’s societies. It includes databases of online records, useful genealogy websites, and places to visit.

Images from the author’s collection:

1920s postcard of children.

Two boys working Delarue’s envelope machine. Illustrated London News, 21 June 1851.

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).

Sunshine on the Mersey

I had a very interesting visit to Merseyside Maritime Museum and Archives yesterday to research some articles and my latest book, Tracing Your Lancashire Ancestors. It was blazingly hot and sunny, considering it is still only April. On my way back to the station I noticed St George’s Hall was open, so I popped inside for a quick look. The concert hall is very impressive, although unfortunately I wasn’t lucky enough to see its famous Minton floor tiles. I shall have to pop back for another visit sometime.

Photos: A ship on the Mersey. St George’s Hall interior. © Sue Wilkes.

Tracing Your Lancashire Ancestors

I'm very pleased to announce that I have a new book contract! I'm very excited about my new project for Pen & Sword books, Tracing Your Lancashire Ancestors, as Lancashire is the county where I was born. The book will look at the story of Lancashire as well as giving tips and hints for tracking down your ancestors from the county.