Hall End, Attleborough 1905 - Nuneaton & North Warwickshire ...

Hall End, Attleborough 1905 

Photograph courtesy of Mr M Ensor 

NUNEATON AND NORTH WARWICKSHIRE 

FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY 

Member of the Federation of Family History Societies 

http://www.nnwfhs.org.uk 

JOURNAL JANUARY 2003 

Price £1.50 (first copy free to members)

Nuneaton & North Warwickshire Family History Society - Journal Page 1 

CONTENTS PAGE 

NNWFHS Committee 1 

NNWFHS Diary - A Report From The Chairman, Peter Lee. 2 

Letters to the Editor 3 

Monty’s Buses, Attleborough - By Peter Lee 4 

The Church of St John, Bentley - By Celia Parton 5 

My New Found Spencer Cousins - By Vic Spencer 6 

Battle Crosses County Line - By Mark Cocklin 8 

Grave Situations - By Jacqui Simkins 9 

A Genealogical A to Z - By Dr Ash Emery 10 

Get Netted 14 

Notice board 16 

Publications 17 

NNWFHS COMMITTEE 

CHAIRMAN PETER LEE, P O Box 2282, Nuneaton, Warwicks CV116ZT 

Tel: (024) 7638 1090 email Nuneatonian2000@aol.com 

SECRETARY LEIGH RIDDELL, 14 Amos Avenue, Nuneaton, Warwickshire 

CV10 7BD Tel: (024) 7634 7754 

MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY JOHN PARTON, 6 Windmill Rd, Atherstone, Warwickshire CV9 1HP 

Tel: (01827) 713938 email JAParton@aol.com 

TREASURER & CELIA PARTON, 6 Windmill Rd, Atherstone, Warwickshire CV91HP 

NORTH WARWICKSHIRE CO-ORDINATOR Tel: (01827) 713938 email CEParton@aol.com 

LIBRARY & PROJECTS CO-ORDINATOR CAROLYN BOSS, Nuneaton Library, Church Street, Nuneaton, 

& VICE CHAIR Warwickshire CV11 4DR Tel: (024) 7638 4027 

JOURNAL & PUBLICATIONS EDITOR PAT BOUCHER, 33 Buttermere Ave, Nuneaton,Warwicks CV11 6ET 

& MICROFICHE LENDING LIBRARIAN Tel: (024) 7638 3488 email editor@nnwfhs.org.uk 

MINUTES SECRETARY & ALVA KING, 26 Thirlmere Avenue, Nuneaton, Warwicks. CV11 6HS 

BURIALS INDEXING PROJECT Tel: (024) 7638 3499 email: alva.king@ntlworld.com 

PUBLICATIONS MANAGER CHRISTOPHER COX, 9 Binswood Close, Coventry, W Midlands. 

CV2 1HL Tel: 024 7661 6880 

COMMITTEE MEMBER & RAY HALL, 4 Thornhill Drive, Nuneaton, Warwickshire, CV11 6TD 

BURIALS INDEXING PROJECT Tel: (024) 76 744647 email ray-hall@ntlworld.com 

COMMITTEE MEMBER ROBERT BUTLER, 16 Dovecote Close, Solihull, West Midlands 

B91 2EP Tel 0121 743 8526 

email bobbutler@16dovecote.freeserve.co.uk 

WEBSITE MANAGER BILL BOSWELL, 21 Randle Road, Stockingford, Nuneaton,Warwicks 

CV10 8HR Tel: (024) 7634 3596 email bill.boswell@btinternet.com 

NORTH AMERICAN REPRESENTATIVE HARLOW G FARMER, 7427 Venice Street, Falls Church, VA, USA. 

Telephone 22043 703 560 6776 E-mail HGFarmer23@CS.com

Page 2 

Nuneaton & North Warwickshire Family History Society - Journal 

NnwFHs Diary 

A Report From The Chairman, Peter Lee 

First of all I would like to wish all of our members a very happy and successful New Year. 

The Mike Palladino Memorial Lecture is becoming the best local heritage event in Nuneaton by 

far, the problem is keeping the standard up. On October 18th our lecture was presented by Stuart 

McKay, who is an authority on the De-Havilland Aircraft company. He gave us a talk on the history 

of the company founded by Geoffrey De-Havilland who lived in Nuneaton for most of his 

childhood. His father Charles De-Havilland, was vicar at St. Mary's Abbey church in the last years 

of the 19th century. Olivia de-Havilland, the famous film actress, was a cousin, as well as Joan 

Fontaine, (from the Japanese based branch of the family I believe?) I understand that Olivia is 

alive, in her 80's, and lives in Paris. The problem with these lectures is that we are constrained by 

time and Stuart only seems to have just got into his stride after two hours when the caretaker at 

Nuneaton Town Hall wanted to close down for the night. 

Anyone who missed his talk, or who would like to hear it again please contact me as next year 

the Coventry Civic Society are presenting special events to commemorate the aircraft industry in 

the city, and one of their committee members has asked me to ask Stuart if he will repeat his lecture 

as part of their celebrations. 

In December I gave a slide show on Old Nuneaton to our annual Christmas gathering at the 

Nuneaton library. I was surprised by the reaction to the mention of "haunted Nuneaton" and realise 

there are a lot of people interested in ghosts particularly local ones. If anyone is interested I 

intend to do a Ghost tour of Nuneaton in February. This will be limited to just six participants so 

please contact me quickly if you are interested. If more than one party is required I will be happy 

to repeat the tour a few weeks later. Why six? The trouble is if you take any more along you tend 

to get stragglers and often have to repeat what you have pointed out to people who have kept up. 

I should hate a ghost to appear and only half the party see it! Not that I can guarantee that, of 

course. You will need good warm and comfortable walking shoes, (we will walk about one mile) a 

flashlight, umbrella, and a strong disposition. 

Another event you will perhaps be interested in takes place on March 1st at Holy Trinity Church 

Centre, Attleborough. Old Attleborough, Local and Family History Day. 10am-4pm. I am looking 

for displays for local families and photographs of the village. If you would like to exhibit please let 

me know as soon as you can. 

NNWFHS 

HELPLINE 

Peter Lee 

(024) 7638 1090 

6.30 - 8.00pm 

Mon to Sat 

Or email: 

Nuneatonian2000@aol.com 

If you have a photograph or an article which you would 

like to be published in the next journal please contact Pat 

Boucher either at the monthly meetings, telephone 024 

7638 3488, email apboucher@btopenworld.com or by post 

at 33 Buttermere Ave, Nuneaton, Warwicks, CV11 6ET. I 

am happy to accept word processed articles or scanned 

photographs etc on computer disk. Also, don’t forget items 

for help wanted, new websites etc 

Thanks, Pat Boucher - Editor. 

Deadline for all copy to be included in April 

issue of the Journal is March 7th


Dear Pat 

Letters to THE EDITOR 

2 days ago I received an unsolicited email from a "Nigerian barrister" telling 

me that he was acting for the $1 million estate of Michael Croshaw 

who was killed in a car crash and it was about to be appropriated by the 

Government if there was no claimant and would I be that claimant, etc, 

etc 

In fact I sent it to the fraud squad. My son in law tells me that Nigeria is 

top of the pops in "Scams" of this kind. I was wondering where they got 

my name from and whether there was a possible N&NWFHS angle? Perhaps 

a warning in the next Journal might be appropriate? 

Warm regards, Alan Croshaw 

Reply from Pat: The people that send these letters and emails obtain 

names and addresses from many easily available sources. It is, apparently, 

something to do with money laundering and you only stand to loose 

money and or get into serious trouble. Please do ignore them. I myself 

have received at least two emails along the same lines and my husband 

received a letter just last week which I have passed on to our local police. 

Dear Pat 

I have in my possession, purchased a few years ago from a bookstall, a 

bible presented to Jesse Gunn by the Committee and Teachers of the 

Wesleyan Sunday Schools, Nuneaton, May 1899. 

I am willing to let this go to a descendent, for the cost of postage only, as 

long as proof is given of their relationship to Jesse Gunn, otherwise I 

would like to keep it, purely because of its age. It is in fairly good condition. 

Yours sincerely, Pauline Roberts.

Page 4 

Many old Nuneatonians have fond 

memories of travelling to Caldwell, 

Bramcote and Attleborough on one of 

Monty's old buses. I say old because 

probably most of them were purchased 

second hand, and in some cases third 

or even fourth hand. Monty's services 

had a delightful home spun character 

to them, few buses were identical 

which made travelling on his routes 

something of an adventure. However, 

the character of these buses were just 

part of the fantastic Monty Moreton 

story and the founder of the business 

76 years ago. 

Monty Moreton senior was born at 

Hartshill in June 1884 and started 

work at the age of 10 in a local stone 

quarry. A rapid succession of jobs introduced 

him to the mining industry 

and he then worked at Stockingford 

Drybread and Ansley Hall Collieries 

before spending the next 25 years with 

Stanley Bros. Ltd at their Nuneaton 

colliery at Stockingford. When that pit 

closed in 1922 Monty found himself 

out of work so he travelled around 

looking for a job. He fancied leaving 

the mining business and took up labouring 

at Desford. Whilst he was 

away in Leicestershire a chance conversation 

in a pub in Market Bosworth 

led him to buy his first motor omnibus. 

He paid £220 for it out of his savings, 

and not being able to drive got 

the former owner to show him how it 

worked on the way home. He then set 

about working as hard as he could to 

build up his business. 

His first trip was at 5.30am every 

morning taking miners to work and 

then he would remove the bus body, 

fit a lorry body and use this for delivery 

coal and general haulage through 

the day. He then re-fitted the bus body 

before taking the miners home at 

night. It was said when he died that he 

had spent his whole life at work. 

When his son, Monty Junior, was 17 

he bought a second bus and the pair of 

them built the business up between 

them. At this time their joint wage bill 

was £9 per week! 

Monty junior was born in 1906 and 

took over the family firm when his father 

died. He was, like his dad, a very 


MONTY’S BUSES, ATTLEBOROUGH 

By Peter Lee 

colourful, but well respected character. 

He became member of Nuneaton Borough 

Council in 1949. Chairman of 

the General Works Committee and 

North East Warwickshire Water Board 

as well as being a Warwickshire 

County Councillor. He was mayor between 

1959-60. 

Monty Junior retired in 1971 and the 

business was carried on by his son also 

called Monty, his brother Bill Moreton 

and cousin, Sam Holland. 

Changing times and changing fortunes 

brought about lean times for the firm 

after this date and it closed in 1980 

leaving behind many happy memories 

of summer excursions to Skegness, 

Yarmouth and Cleethorpes because in 

addition to his local routes he also ran 

a variety of trips out in the summer 

and regular holiday routes to the seaside. 

All this in addition to taking 

workmen every day to the factories in 

Coventry. Monty was one of several 

bus operators that started in the 20's 

running either in competition with the 

Midland Red and each other. Gradually 

some of the other routes were 

taken over by the Midland Red but 

Monty Senior carried on, with a war of 

attrition with big brother, the Midland 

Red, leaving only two independent 

operators in 1939. The other was A.J. 

& A. Kiteley trading as "Swift Motor 

Services" which was acquired by the 

Midland Red in 1939, the Swift buses 

themselves passing to their former rival 

Monty. Monty Moreton Limited 

was formed in May 1941. About 1944 

he acquired the business of L & R 

York of Wolvey. 

In the post war period he developed 

the busiest stage service to the Caldwell 

estate. Amongst his services was 

the daily route from Chapel End to 

Gipsy Lane via the Bus Station. His 

Monday-Friday Wolvey-Hinckley service. 

Nuneaton-Wolvey and the daily 

Bus Station to the Caldwell Estate 

(Red Deeps). In the summer he ran 

regular trips to Mablethorpe, Great 

Yarmouth and the Isle of Wight. 

Works services comprised morning 

and evening routes to Hinckley, Baddesley 

Colliery and the Chrysler works 

in Coventry. 

His garage was located in Attleborough 

almost opposite the Albion 

Buildings and extended down to the 

Wem Brook overlooking the Pingle 

Fields. 

The first bus purchased with his £220 

appears to have been a Ford model T 

with a Dixie body acquired in 1923. 

This was a convertible model as the 

bus body could be removed and a 

lorry body fitted. In those days a lot of 

the early bus operators had these sort 

of vehicles. The services must have 

been successful despite the miners 

having a rather rough ride on indifferent 

roads with solid rubber tyres and 

rather rickety wooden bodies, bench 

seats only loosely connected to the 

chassis. I have not yet come across 

any accidents due to this "Heath Robinson" 

arrangement as to failure to secure 

all the bolts resulting in bodies 

coming loose and depositing its passengers 

on the road in a heap of splintered 

wood, I dare say there was some. 

His first two buses had this arrangement 

but they did not last long in service 

being withdrawn in 1926 possibly 

sold on to another operator. The body 

from one was used on another Monty 

vehicle a Chevrolet purchased in 1926. 

Over the years there were very many 

acquisitions including some from the 

War Department and operators as far 

away as Yorkshire and Cheshire. 

Monty's livery was a distinctive cream 

and red which looked very good on 

these old buses. 

OLD ATTLEBOROUGH 

Local and Family History 

Exhibition 

Saturday 1st March 2003 

Holy Trinity Church Centre 

Attleborough Road 

NUNEATON 

10am-4pm Admission £1.50 

For details of exhibiting or 

attending, please contact: 

PETER LEE 02476 381090 

e.mail:attleboroughian@aol.com


The Church of St John, Bentley 

By Celia Parton 

The Church at Bentley was opened in 

1837 and closed in 1972. Why you 

may wonder was the church not built 

until 1837 and why was it closed in 

1972 less than a hundred and forty 

years later? 

Historically Bentley was linked with 

Shustoke and not as it is today, with 

Merevale. Shustoke is about 5 miles 

away. Not very far today when it 

would only take a matter of minutes to 

travel that distance by car. But in the 

early 19 th century the Bentley folk 

would have had to walk the 5 miles 

unless they had the use of a horse and 

cart. Even so it was not an easy journey 

to make every Sunday, especially 

on a hot summer's day or a cold winter's 

day. So it made sense to have a 

church, or rather a chapel in the village. 

Then, as it is today, Bentley was 

a very rural village, the main occupation 

being farming. There is no centre 

to the village, no village green, no post 

office or shops. There is just the local 

pub, the Horse and Jockey, situated on 

the Coleshill Road. It was decided to 

build the new church on land opposite 

to the Horse and Jockey - but then 

aren't most churches in local villages 

next to a public house? It was built in 

1837 and was relatively small. It 

would have seated about 100 people. 

The church and the tower were built of 

red brick. The tower had one bell and 

this is now kept in Merevale church. 

A new school was built in 1847 and 

some cottages were also built close to 

the school. Otherwise most people 

St John, Bentley circa 1965, Courtesy of Vic Spencer 

lived in farmhouses or in tied cottages. 

The school also catered for children 

from the nearby villages of Merevale, 

Baxterley and Baddesley Ensor. In 

1850 Baddesley pit was opened and so 

some men became coal miners. This 

was still a time when farming was labour 

intensive and there were many 

men employed on the Bentley farms 

and so the church had a good congregation. 

Aucott 1947 

Booton 1943/60 

Booton 1915 

Bromley 1886 

Brookes 1899 

Burbidge 1868 

Chapman 1877 

Clamp 1898 

Cooper 1859 

Davies 1904 

Deeming 1956 

Deeming 1855 

Ford 1905 

Forrester 1920 

Foster 1840/64 

Fox 1840/53 

Gent 1871 

Keen 1854 

Leedham 1895 

Morgan 1869 

Mountford 1867 

Mountford 1962 

Oxford 1908 

Parker 1926 

Payne 1908 

Pearson 1875 

Pearson 1915 

Pearson 1848 

It was after the Second World War 

that things changed considerably. 

Farming technology advanced. Tractors 

were introduced together with machinery 

to do the jobs previously done 

by hand. Milking machines became 

the norm. There were therefore far 

fewer men employed on the farms and 

the population dwindled. 

Also the church, by then over 100 

years old, was becoming in need of 

restoration. Subsidence, due to a new 

seam of coal being worked under the 

village, caused a large crack to appear 

in the main walls and the tower was in 

danger of collapse. Restoration work 

would have been expensive and at the 

time the Diocese was short of cash. In 

view of that and the dwindling population 

steps were taken to make it redundant. 

It was taken down in 1972. The 

churchyard was levelled and grassed 

over, although it remained open for 

burials. Some of the old gravestones 

were removed and placed up against 

the wall, which surrounds the site. 

The last burial took place in 1982. 

The churchyard is still maintained and 

people can still visit the graves of their 

loved ones. 

******************************* 

The table below was kindly submitted 

by Valerie Pickard. It contains the surname 

and dates transcribed from the 

headstones in Bentley churchyard and 

There are also 10 small headstones undated 

and with initials only. 

Porter ? 

Shilton ? 

Shilton 1913 

Smith 1860 

Stevenson 1873 

Stevenson 1904 

Stevenson 1917/1930 

Taylor 1839/69 

Thurman 1918 

Toon 1844 

Upton 1867/1900 

Upton 1906 

Wright 1947

Page 6 

It all started when I had a phone call 

from Valerie Pickard, who explained 

to me that she had read an article in 

the Tamworth paper from a Bryan 

Spencer in Canada. It began by asking 

if anyone knew any Spencers from 

Hurley, as he and Doug Spencer (his 

father) were planning a trip to England 

in the fall and were hoping to meet 

some distant relatives or visit some old 

family heritage sites such as homes or 

graves. 

According to the article, Bryan’s great 

great grandfather, John Spencer, was 

born on March 7th 1851 in Hurley 

Warwickshire. He married Emma 

Shepherd, who was from Burton on 

Trent, on May 13th 1878. They went 

to Canada in 1889 and settled in a 

small town named Rathwell in the 

Province of Manitoba. John had a 

brother, named Thomas, who remained 

in England but Bryan did not 

know any of John’s other siblings or 

his parents’ names. On the 1881 census, 

Bryan had found John aged 30 

with his wife aged 25 born at Winshill 

Derbyshire and their son named 

Charles aged one and also born in 

Winshill. Another son named Arthur 

who was Bryan’s great grandfather 

and who would have been perhaps one 

or two years old when they went to 

Canada was not born at the time of the 

Census. Also on the 1881 census 

Bryan had found Thomas living at 

Green Farm Kingsbury Warwickshire. 

At that time he was 19 years old and 

had been born in Hurley. He was 

working for Richard Thompson, also 


My New Found Spencer ‘Cousins’ 

By Vic Spencer 

My father, Alfred Kitchener Spencer, scything 

the grass at Bentley churchyard circa 1965. 

born in Hurley, who was a 60-acre 

farmer. 

Val had a word with Celia Parton 

(Treasurer of the NNWFHS) and they 

came to the same conclusion; that I 

may be related as I was researching in 

those areas of the same name. Val got 

in touch with me and, while thanking 

her for the information from the article, 

at the same time I was wondering 

who and where these Spencers may 

have come from. Val phoned Bryan 

Spencer in Canada and explained that 

I may be related to him. Val then 

wrote to me enclosing 

the newspaper 

cutting and 

explaining her conversation 

with 

Bryan Spencer. 

She also suggested 

that we discuss it 

more the following 

Tuesday night at 

the Library 

(Family History 

night). 

Val and myself 

checked the 1851 

and 1881 censuses and both agreed 

that a John Spencer was born March 

7th 1851 and Thomas Spencer born 

4th November 1860. Both children 

had been born to Alice Spencer, my 

great great aunt (her father was my 

great great grandfather who had died 

at an early age). Further research 

showed Alice had two other children, 

Caroline born 4th December 1853 and 

Louisa born 5th 

August 1855. On 

the 1881 census 

Alice was married 

to William Wood 

(they married in 

1876) and living at 

Bentley Hall. 

A few weeks later 

Bryan Spencer 

phoned me. We had 

a good chat and I 

explained about my 

family and relations 

and he about his 

family and relations 

in Canada. He told 

me about his planned visit to England 

with his father on Tuesday 1st October 

and about Clive, another contact from 

Nuneaton, who had read the article in 

the Tamworth paper and been in touch 

with him offering to put them up the 

night. Tuesday 1st October came and I 

knocked off work early as Clive was 

going to bring Bryan and his father 

Doug to see me at about 2pm. Unfortunately 

they had had a lot of hold ups 

and eventually arrived at 4pm. We introduced 

ourselves and had a quick 

chat before setting off for a trip to our 

ancestors’ areas. 

Bentley School 

Our first visit was to Atherstone where 

Bryan and Doug at last met Valerie 

Pickard and her husband Derrick 

Pickard, Mayor of Atherstone, in his 

council chamber. Then we toured 

around Atherstone where Doug and 

Bryan had photos taken first in Long 

Street; outside the Old Swan on the 

corner of Welcome Street and not far 

from where the Union Work House 

used to be; and then at Atherstone 

School in South Street which was built 

in 1842 and was where the children of 

Atherstone attended. By this time it 

was about 6pm so off we went again, 

first to Bentley churchyard where 

some of our ancestors are buried. I 

explained who was buried there and 

about the Church and told them that, 

in the 1960s, my father used to scythe 

the grass in the graveyard and I 

clipped round the graves. More photos 

were taken and next we went to Bentley 

School, where children attended 

from Baxterley, Bentley and Baddesley 

Ensor (our ancestors children had 

also attended there). 

(Continued on page 7)


(Continued from page 6) 

Then we drove on to Hurley where 

some of our ancestors came from; 

John Spencer and his cousin William 

Spencer (my grandfather) were both 

born there. As it was getting dark we 

did not have time to look for the cemetery. 

Then off we went to Gospel Oak 

where John Wesley had preached as 

he rode around the countryside on 

horse back preaching the gospel. I 

gave Doug a copy of a photograph of 

my great aunt Annie, taken circa 1890, 

standing next to the Gospel Oak Tree 

and told them about the toll house on 

the corner of the road where the stage 

coach used to stop to give the horses a 

rest and water them down. 

I also told Doug and Bryan that as a 

child I remembered my Grandfather’s 

cottage just down the lane from the 

Gospel Oak. In the out buildings at the 

bottom of the garden he had kept his 

pigs, horses and chickens. At the back 

of the cottage under the apple tree, 

which my father had planted as a 

child, the outside loo had stood. It was 

a wooden square box with a door with 

a bucket graced with a wooden lid. In 

the hot summer when the wasps were 

drunk from the fallen apples, they 

buzzed around your head and legs, 

coming from the gaps at the top and 

My great aunt, Annie Spencer, at the 

Gospel Oak in Bentley circa 1890. 

bottom of the door. In the winter sacking 

filled the gaps stopping you from 

turning into a snowman when it 

snowed. When visiting my Grandfather 

I sometimes bathed in the old tin 

bath in front of the fire with the blackleaded 

grate and ovens on each side 

and the kettle hung on a hook above 

the flames. In the cottage I often used 

to see the smoke rise from the oil lamp 

because the wick always needed trimming, 

this stood on an oak table covered 

with a heavy cloth that had a 

fringed edge, and I remember the loud 

tick of the old colonial clock that hung 

on the wall. 

By this time the day light had faded 

and you could only make out the sign 

of Gospel Oak by car head lights so 

we set back to my house for a quick 

brush up before meeting up with Clive 

at the Long Shoot Motel where a table 

was booked for an evening meal at 8 

pm. 

Next day Clive took Doug and Bryan 

to Baxterley Church, where Alice had 

taken John (Doug’s great grandfather) 

to be christened. Then they went on a 

trip to Tamworth Castle as a treat. 

When I came home from work Clive 

brought Doug and Bryan to see me 

before they caught the train back to 

London. As we said our 

good byes they thanked me 

for all I had done, e.g. a 

folder full of old pictures of 

the family, some going back 

a hundred years, plus copies 

of remembrance cards of 

Alice’s brother and sisters 

and also their own family 

tree. They also thanked 

Clive for the birth certificates 

of John and Thomas 

Spencer he had got for them 

which completed the folder. 

I have since received an 

email from Bryan in Canada 

saying that they both enjoyed 

their short visit to 

England and Doug said that 

he would like to come again 

next spring for a longer visit. 

He also said that we would 

be welcome in Canada to 

meet the Spencer families 

over there. 

My special thanks to Valerie 

Pickard for making this family 

meeting possible. 

GENEALOGICAL 

ONE-LINERS 

By Ernest Bullimore 

My family coat of arms ties at the back... 

is that normal? 

My ancestors must be in a witness protection 

program! 

Shake your family tree and watch the nuts 

fall! 

I'm not stuck, I'm ancestrally challenged. 

I'm not sick, I've just got fading genes. 

Genealogists live in the past lane. 

Genealogy: Chasing your own tale! 

That's the problem with the gene pool: NO 

Lifeguards. 

I researched my family tree... and apparently 

I don't exist! 

Infertility is hereditary. If your parents 

didn't have any children, neither will you. 

Any family tree produces some lemons, 

some nuts and a few bad apples. 

I'm searching for myself; have you seen 

me? 

Isn't genealogy fun? The answer to one 

problem leads to two more! 

Never mind the children, do you know 

where your Gr-Gr-Grandparents are tonight? 

A family reunion is an effective form of 

birth control. 

After 30 days, unclaimed ancestors will be 

adopted. 

Ever find an ancestor HANGING from the 

family tree? 

FLOOR: The place for storing your priceless 

genealogy records. 

Gene-Allergy: It's a contagious disease, 

but we love it. 

Genealogists are time unravelers. 

Genealogy is like playing hide and seek: 

They hide... we seek! 

"Crazy" is a relative term in my family. 

I think my ancestors had several "Bad 

heir" days. 

Only a Genealogist regards a step backwards 

as progress. 

Heredity: Everyone believes in it until 

their children act like fools! 

It's an unusual family that hath neither a 

lady of the evening or a thief. 

Many a family tree needs pruning. 

Shh! Be very, very quiet.... I'm hunting 

forebears. 

That's strange: half my ancestors are 

WOMEN! 

Old genealogists never die—they just 

loose their census. 

My own thoughts on the process: As you 

trace your ancestors further back in time, 

records become more difficult to find, 

more difficult to read and contain less useful 

information. You know you have finished 

your family tree when you can no 

longer find any records, when you find 

them you can't read them, and when you 

read them they contain no information.

Page 8 

The Following article originally appeared 

in the Atherstone Herald on 

12th September 2002, and is reproduced 

herein with their kind permission 

British history could be re-written to 

place North Warwickshire at the centre 

of one its most significant events. 

The Battle of Bosworth did not take 

place at Bosworth but was actually 

fought near Atherstone, according to a 

new book which re-examines the evidence 

surrounding the battle. 

And, if the new theory becomes 

widely accepted, it could spark a tourism 

boom in North Warwickshire as 

the Ambion Hill battlesite near Bosworth 

currently attracts 25,000 visitors 

every year. 

Bosworth was one of history’s most 

famous battles, which resulted in 

Henry VII taking the throne after defeating 

Richard III. That famous clash 

took place in Warwickshire and not 

Leicestershire, as previously thought, 

argues historian Michael Jones in his 

new book Bosworth 1485 - Psychology 

of a Battle. 

He argues that the main part of the 

battle was fought on a piece of land 

known as Derby Spinney, north of 

Fenny Drayton. Dr Jones also contends 

that Henry’s battle manoeuvres 

took him and his soldiers through 

Mancetter and Witherley. 

“It is already commonly believed that 

Henry Tudor stayed at Merevale Abbey 

before the battle, and Bosworth 

always seemed a long a way to take 

infantry.” said Dr Jones. “One of the 

earliest sources even described it as 

the Battle of Merevale.” 

The main new evidence for the new 

theory is the discovery of an eyewitness 

account of the battle written 

by a French soldier of fortune who 

was employed by HenryTudor. Dr 

Jones discovered the previously untapped 

source in a French historical 

journal article about military reforms 

in France. 


Battle Crosses County Line 

By Mark Cocklin © 

Together with an investigation of contemporary 

cavalry battle strategies in 

1485, the historian found his studies 

pointed him in the direction of Atherstone 

It is not the first time, a revisionist historian 

has claimed the Battle of Bosworth 

was not actually fought by the 

famous market town. A previous theory 

had placed the battle at Dadlington 

but Dr Jones argues that neither that 

location nor Ambion Hill is as plausible 

a site as the one near Atherstone. 

He said: “The French mercenary said 

Richard’s charge was carefully 

thought. If that’s the case, then Ambion 

Hill doesn’t work because there’s 

not enough room for cavalry to manoeuvre. 

In both of the previous versions 

- Bosworth and Dadlington - 

one of the key details in a contemporary 

account by Polydor Vergil doesn’t 

work. He said as Henry Tudor is 

marching into combat, he does a manoeuvre 

to get the sun into the eyes of 

his opponents. There’s no way that 

could work if you believe the previous 

accounts. My theory is that Henry was 

marching in an easterly direction towards 

Mancetter and then swung north 

towards Witherley.” 

Dr Jones also believes his theory is 

borne out by the recorded compensation 

payments made by Henry VII to 

North Warwickshire parishes after the 

battle. “A grant was paid to a number 

of parishes including Merevale which 

was for help received on the way to 

battle,” he said “But the order to pay 

Witherley and Mancetter describes 

them as being ‘at the scene of battle’. 

This is very significant - why would 

Henry pay them unless he felt a great 

debt of gratitude?” 

He added that medieval battles were 

often not fought on one patch of 

ground but could be spread out, as in 

this case. 

There may now be calls for an archaeological 

dig at a mound near to 

the junction of the A444 and the A5. 

Atherstone Heritage Centre’s Lorna 

Dirveiks has described the new theory 

as exciting. She added: “We’ve always 

said they camped here before the battle, 

and not so much as a sword blade 

has ever been found at Ambion Hill.” 

Local historian John Austin, an expert 

on Merevale Abbey, also responded 

positively saying what he knows of Dr 

Jones’ theory fits in with information 

already documented 

This map shows the spot which latest research has pinpointed as the possible 

site of the conflict 

(Courtesy of Bosworth 1485 - Psychology of a Battle. By Dr Michael Jones)


ACCESS PROBLEMS AT LITTLE 

PACKINGTON CHURCH 

I wonder if any NNWFHS member 

knows the legal situation (or can offer 

advice) regarding graves in Church of 

England churchyards where the church 

building has been sold off as a house. 

At Little Packington in Warwickshire, 

the graves and many stones are still in 

situ. Little Packington was in Lichfield 

Diocese, then transferred to Coventry 

and the parish/benefice now combined 

with that at Meriden. The church is 

now a "private residence": proclaimed 

by a large sign on the roadside gates. 

There is no public right of way adjacent 

to the graveyard, and the access 

drive to the house was, when I went to 

take holly for Christmas, electronically 

locked (this was on Monday 23 

December). There is no pedestrian 

gate, nor stile over the fence, nor public 

footpath in the adjacent farm field 

that actually provides access to the 

graves. 

The local vicar was offering to ask the 

house owner if it would be possible 

for me to visit the grave. I pointed out 

that access should be for all who had 

family buried there and I would not 

countenance him asking permission 

for me alone. There was evidence on 

an earlier visit that some of the graves 

are visited. 

I have emailed the local diocesan office 

and also the redundant churches 

arm of the church commissioners and 

await their comment/information. 

I know from another Lister that assurances 

(presumably verbal) were given 

by the Church at the time of the sale 

that "access to the graves would be 

maintained". This is blatantly not the 

case and I feel very uneasy that my gtgran 

was buried at her local church 

with a stone to mark her grave for her 

subsequent descendants to pay their 

respects and care for her, yet she appears 

to be now in private hands, sold 

off by the Church Commissioners (It 

took me years of searching to find her 

resting place as I had thought she had 

remained in Cheshire when her sons 

migrated to Warwickshire). I also 

GRAVE SITUATIONS 

By Jacqui Simkins 

know that one parishioner involved at 

the time that the church was sold is 

"furious" to hear the gates are locked. 

I cannot believe that any private individual 

should be able to buy consecrated 

ground and its burials, and then 

bar descendants access. It seems immoral 

to me that it could happen. I 

could half-understand it if the church 

commissioners had arranged for the 

burials to be exhumed and transferred 

along with the benefice. 

Has anyone come across barred access 

to other churchyards where the church 

has been sold and converted? Or, has 

anyone any information on the true legal 

situation? Any specific advice 

would be appreciated. Please contact 

me, Mrs Jacqui Simkins at Langley 

Mill Farm, Sutton Coldfield, West 

Midlands B75 7HR Telephone: 0121 

311 0455 email: jas@langleymill. 

freeserve.co.uk 

******************************* 

GRAVESTONES AND LICHENS 

Recently there has been comment in a 

neighbouring FHS’s publication about 

the situation regarding lichens on 

gravestones. Essentially the lichenlobby 

do not wish these to be disturbed 

and their attention had been 

drawn by an article about the recording 

of memorial inscriptions involving 

the need in some instances to 

lift lichen growths in order to read the 

stones. 

Surely the purpose of gravestones is to 

provide a memorial to those buried; it 

is the primary reason for their existence. 

It is undisputable that the 

mixed geological variety of stones 

used in the making of gravestones provides 

a wider than naturally available 

lichen habitat within a small area – the 

graveyard. Whilst appreciating the 

importance of preserving wildlife, it is 

equally important to record the memorial 

inscriptions. A gravestone tells far 

more than individual entries in a burial 

register and often includes several 

generations: spouses, children – and 

their relationship to each other. 

It is understood there is currently re- 

search into means of removing and reinstating 

lichens: this will obviously 

help with preservation of the species 

but whilst I am sure no family historian 

unnecessarily moves lichens and 

mosses, the time has come for the lichen 

specialists to realise the purpose 

for which the gravestone was created 

and the invaluable historical information 

it holds. 

Let us hope that when the current research 

results are available, these will 

be provided to all FHS to enable researchers 

both to record inscriptions 

and assist with the preservation of lichens. 

******************************* 

WALLS AROUND 

CHURCHYARDS 

There is an ongoing survey of walls 

around churchyards. The purpose of 

the survey is to identify those churchyards 

that have walls built in natural 

stone without the use of mortar or cement, 

but the database being created 

also needs to record those churchyards 

where there are other forms of boundary 

so that fullest information possible 

is known. 

No specialist skills are needed other 

than a pen and a form of simple option 

questions with descriptors for conditions 

of the walls. A survey form is 

available for printing directly from the 

website below, or by sending a 

stamped, self-addressed envelope 

marked “churchyard survey form” to: 

Dry Stone Walling Association, PO 

Box 8615, Sutton Coldfield B75 7HQ. 

Website: www.dswa.org.uk navigate 

to /Publication_frames_page.htm click 

on surveys in top right, then on 

churchyard survey form in left hand 

column.

Page 10 

This A to Z has been taken from the 

pages at Genuki and is reproduced in 

this journal with the kind permission of 

the author. A few amendments and additions 

have been made by the editor. 

Please note that some addresses and 

telephone numbers may have changed 

since this information was written so 

please ensure that you check the details 

before either visiting or writing. Part 

one was published in the October 2002 

journal - Pat Boucher 

AGRA - Association of Genealogists & 

Record Agents 

ASGRA - Association of Scottish Genealogists 

& Record Agents 

AUGRA - Association of Ulster Genealogists 

& Record Agents 

BigR - British Isles Genealogical Register 

BL - British Library 

BMD – Birth Marriage and Death 

BTs - Bishops' Transcripts 

CHI – Catherine House Index 

CLRO - County of London Record Office 

CRO - County Record Office 

FFHS - Federation of Family History Societies 

FHC - Family History Centre (of LDS), 

also known as FHL (FH Library) 

FHLC - Family History Library Catalogue 

FHS - Family History Society 

FRC - Family Records Centre 

FTM - Family Tree Magazine 

GEDCOM - Genealogical Data Communication 

GOONS - Guild of One-Name Studies 

GRD - Genealogical Research Directory 

GRO - General Register Office 

IGI - International Genealogical Index 

IHGS - Institute of Heraldic & Genealogical 

Studies 

IRCs - International Reply Coupons 

LDS - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day 

Saints 

LMA - London Metropolitan Archives 

MIs - Monumental Inscriptions 

NBI – National Burial Index 

NNWFHS - Nuneaton and North Warwickshire 

Family History Society 

ONS - Office of National Statistics 

PAF - Personal Ancestral File 

PR – Parish Register 

PRO - Public Record Office 

RO – Register Office 

SH - Somerset House 

SoG - Society of Genealogists 

———————————————— 

FFHS 

The Federation of Family History Societies 

links together over 200 societies 

throughout the world. FFHS publishes 

guides and books on family history research, 

and a half yearly magazine, 

Family History News & Digest. FFHS 

initiates and coordinates national projects, 

such as the 1881 Census Project 

and the National Burial Index, and 

liaises in the running of family history 

training. For further details and a list of 

member societies, contact: The Administrator 

FFHS, PO Box 2425, COVEN- 

TRY, CV5 6YX or e-mail: info@ffhs. 

org.uk. There will almost certainly be a 

society for the county or area where 

your ancestors once lived. 

FHS 

There are many Family History Societies 

located in the UK and of interest to 

the researcher. Most are geographically 

tied to old county boundaries such as 


A Genealogical A to Z - Part 2 

By Dr Ash Emery © 

the Northumberland & Durham FHS 

and the West Surrey FHS. The FHSs 

cater for those with interests in former 

residents and/or historic locations. An 

FHS meets regularly and publishes 

regular journals and a directory of 

members' interests. The FHS may undertake 

research from the IGI as well as 

from local sources such as census returns, 

monumental inscriptions, parish 

registers and newspapers. A comprehensive 

list of FHSs is available from 

the FFHS and on the GENUKI website 

FRC 

The Family Records Centre (FRC) 

opened in 1997 and houses the Public 

Search Room of the ONS, previously at 

St Catherine's House, and the Census 

Rooms of the PRO, which were previously 

in the PRO Chancery Lane building. 

The GRO Search Room is on the 

ground floor of FRC. There is no 

charge for searching the indexes which 

cover births; deaths; marriages; war 

deaths; deaths at sea; births and deaths 

in aircraft; consular births, marriages 

and deaths; deaths abroad; marriages on 

ships; marriages abroad; and Commonwealth 

marriages. The PRO occupies 

the first floor of FRC where visitors 

will find access to the census 1841 to 

1901, wills and non-conformist registers. 

The census returns are held on microfilm 

and copies of relevant pages 

may be made and purchased for a 

nominal charge. A PRO Reader's 

Ticket is not required for access to 

FRC. The FRC is the starting place for 

most individuals' family research and 

full justice cannot be done in a few 

paragraphs. For more information contact: 

The Family Records Centre, 1 

Myddelton Street, London, EC1R 1UW 

or visit the website at www. 

familyrecords.gov.uk/frc For enquiries 

about Births, Marriages, Deaths, Adoptions, 

overseas enquiries and general 

enquiries about certificates: Tel: 0870 

243 7788, Fax: 01704 550013 or Email:certificate.services@ons.gov.uk 

For census and general enquiries about 

the FRC (not Births, Marriages and 

Deaths): Tel: 020 8392 5300, Fax: 020 

8392 5307, or E-mail: enquiry@pro. 

gov.uk 

GEDCOM 

Family historians who are also PC users 

frequently wish to exchange pedigrees 

with other researchers who may 

use different genealogy software packages. 

The Genealogical Data Communication 

package enables researchers to 

exchange files irrespective of package 

used and also submit their research to 

LDS under the Ancestral File project. 

In addition, IGI CD-ROM entries can 

be downloaded to researchers' floppy 

disks in the GEDCOM format. (See 

Computers and IGI.) 

GENUKI 

GENUKI is one of the best and most 

useful websites for the genealogist and 

can be found at www.genuki.org.uk 

The aim of GENUKI is to serve as a 

"virtual reference library" of genealogical 

information that is of particular 

relevance to the UK & Ireland. It is a 

non-commercial service, provided by 

an ever-growing group of volunteers in 

cooperation with the Federation of 

Family History Societies and a number 

of its member societies. In the main, the 

information that is provided in GEN- 

UKI relates to primary historical material, 

rather than material resulting from 

genealogists' ongoing research, such as 

GEDCOM files. 

GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE 

This monthly journal was published between 

1731 and the early 1900s. It is a 

rich source for births, marriages, 

deaths, obituaries and bankruptcies. 

Various indexes have been compiled 

over the years: some specific to births, 

marriages and obituaries, and some cumulative 

for the early years. The SoG, 

the BL and the PRO all hold the complete 

run of the magazine. (See Newspapers.) 

GRAVESTONES (See MIs.) 

GRD 

The Genealogical Research Directory is 

published annually. Each edition runs 

to about 1,200 pages and contains well 

over 100,000 entries submitted by thousands 

of researchers worldwide. The 

GRD enables researchers to find fellow 

researchers with similar interests. It is 

published in Australia in April and is 

distributed worldwide to contributors, 

societies and libraries. Each edition 

gives addresses and other details of genealogical 

societies, record offices, archives 

and libraries. 

GRO 

The General Register Office for England 

and Wales (GRO) is responsible 

for ensuring the registration of all 

births, marriages and deaths that have 

occurred in England and Wales since 

1837 and for maintaining a central archive. 

The GRO works in partnership 

with local authorities to provide a locally 

based service at register offices 

(known as the local registration service). 

The local registrars send birth, 

marriage and death register information 

to GRO to make up the National archive. 

It is situated at Southport except 

for the London based Family Records 

Centre. The Southport office deals with 

postal and telephone requests for certificates 

and the registration of all adoptions 

made through a court in England 

and Wales. The registers themselves 

may not be examined by the public but 

at the Family Records Centre (FRC) 

you can search the indexes of births, 

marriages and deaths without charge 

and obtain a copy of a certificate to assist 

in tracing your family tree or for 

any administrative purpose. The General 

Register Office for England and 

Wales is based at: Smedley Hydro, 

Trafalgar Road, Southport, PR8 2HH 

Tel: +44 (0)870 243 7788 or e-mail 

(for England and Wales events): 

certificate.services@ons.gov.uk Like 

England and Wales, Scotland, Northern 




Ireland and Ireland each have their own 

General Register Office (GRO) which 

looks after registration matters. The 

laws governing each office are slightly 

different, so although the basic services 

and roles will be the same, some issues 

may be different between each country. 

You can access records for Scotland 

and Northern Ireland at the Family Records 

Centre (FRC). For Scottish records, 

you can use the computer link 

which is available in the Scottish Link 

area of the Search Room. The records 

you can access include birth, death and 

marriage indexes from 1855; 1881 and 

1891 census records and some old parish 

records. There is a fee of £4.00 per 

half hour up to a maximum of 2 hours. 

Copies of Scottish certificates and other 

extracts must be ordered from the General 

Register Office in Scotland and not 

the FRC. Special application forms are 

available at the Customer Service 

Desks in the Scottish Link area. Certificates 

will be posted to you. For more 

information visit the website at: www. 

statistics.gov.uk 

GUILDHALL LIBRARY 

This library is located in the City of 

London and holds an extensive collection 

of genealogical material relating to 

the City such as lists of freemen and records 

of livery companies and guilds. It 

has a superb collection of Kelly's directories 

and some old manuscripts relating 

to ships and shipping such as 

Lloyd's Register, Lloyd's List, Captains' 

Register and Loss Books. Guildhall Library 

is at Aldermanbury, London, 

England, EC2P 2EJ. 

HALBERT'S 

Halbert's Family Heritage is an American 

company that publishes 'World 

Books' of various surnames. The books 

are expensive and portrayed as something 

they are not, ie beautiful coffee 

table editions rather than the reality of 

cardboard covered books containing 

computer produced listings of names 

and addresses. However, they offer two 

possible benefits for the researcher: addresses 

of individuals carrying the same 

surname are listed and you may find a 

relative in another country as I did. 

Secondly, the names are listed by state 

(for the US) and by county (for the UK) 

so a researcher can draw a modern day 

distribution of the specific surname 

since most of Halbert's research is extracting 

names from more or less up-todate 

telephone directories. In recent 

times, Halbert's acquired a licence to 

the name Burke's Peerage and have attempted 

to add status to their publishing 

operation. Halbert's don't like printing 

their address and there is none in 

the book I purchased. 

HERALDRY 

Even if you cannot trace your ancestry 

back to William The Conqueror, it 

could be that your family is entitled to a 

coat of arms. Forget those organisations 

that will supply you a crest for a fee. A 

coat of arms belongs to the family to 

whom it was granted and only to male 

heirs. In Tudor England, King Henry 

VIII was concerned by the misuse of 

armorial bearings and commissioned 

Kings of Arms to travel throughout 

England and Wales to survey and re- 

cord all arms. From 1530 until the late 

1680s heralds travelled the countryside 

on horseback on a regular basis that became 

to be known as the heralds' visitations. 

The control of coats of arms is 

still today in the hands of heralds. In 

England, the College of Arms is situated 

at Queen Victoria Street, London, 

England, EC4 4BT. Scottish heraldry is 

administered by Lord Lyon, King of 

Arms, New Register House, Princes 

Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 3YT. 

Further reading includes Heraldry for 

Family Historians (published by 

FFHS), the Observer's Book of Heraldry 

(published by Frederick Warne) 

and A Complete Guide to Heraldry by 

Arthur Charles Fox-Davies published 

by Bracken Books (reprinted 1993.) 

(See IHGS.) 

IGI 

The International Genealogical Index is 

produced by LDS and is a valuable tool 

for the genealogical researcher. It is an 

index to entries in parish registers. The 

IGI is divided into countries and then, 

for example, is further subdivided into 

counties (UK) and states (USA.) The 

IGI is currently being delivered on microfiche 

(available in the UK at Record 

offices and most libraries with a family 

history section), CD-ROM (available at 

LDS libraries), and on the internet at 

www.familyserch.org The user should 

be warned that there are differences between 

the versions; your ancestors may 

be in one and not the other. The IGI is 

developed by the LDS from a combination 

of members' temple submissions 

from 1840 to the present day and the 

systematic (carefully scrutinised) extraction 

program. Most of the IGI entries 

are baptisms but there are some 

marriages and a few wills. The IGI 

should be consulted by surname within 

county or state (fiche) or by surname 

(CD-ROM.) Any promising entries 

should then be verified against the 

original records which can be ordered 

(on microfilm or fiche) through LDS, 

records offices and some local libraries. 

The worldwide IGI includes hundreds 

of millions of names and is available at 

FHCs, the SoG, the PRO, most CROs 

and many FHSs. Since the LDS started 

making available IGI editions on the 

internet and CD-ROM it is now feasible 

for a researcher to take floppy disks 

to his local FHC and download selected 

IGI entries or download them straight 

from the internet. Multiple downloads 

from the CD-ROM version will entail 

use of several disks. The data may be 

downloaded in GEDCOM or ASCII 

(text) format. Serious researchers will 

require further software such as 

IGIREAD, GIPSI or IGI255 to use this 

data on home PCs. Note: NNWFHS has 

several counties of the IGI on fiche 

which can be borrowed for home research 

by local members. (See LDS 

and Computers.) 

IHGS 

The Institute of Heraldic & Genealogical 

Studies offers training by correspondence 

for both amateur and professional 

family historians. The institute's 

library contains many indexes including 

Pallot's Index of Marriages; county 

maps; and many genealogical books. 

IHGS publishes a quarterly journal, 

Family History, which contains family 

histories, genealogical and heraldic articles, 

and guides to research. IHGS is at 

78-92 Northgate, Canterbury, Kent, 

England, CT1 1BA, telephone + 44 

1227 768664, fax + 44 1227 765617 

website www.ihgs.ac.uk/ (See Heraldry.) 

IMMIGRANTS 

(See Emigrants. It depends where you 

are going to or coming from!) 

INDEXES 

Indexes are valuable research tools and 

note that family historians insist that 

they are indexes, not indices. The most 

famous index is the IGI but there are 

many others of value to the researcher 

including many surname indexes produced 

by various FHSs for the 1851 

Census; the shoemakers index at Northampton; 

the US Social Security Index 

on CD-ROM available at FHCs; the 

Great Card Index at the SoG; the Pallot 

Index of marriages at the IHGS; the 

small indexes at virtually every local 

history society and FHS; and Bernau's, 

Boyd's and Currer-Briggs indexes described 

earlier. Many MIs are indexed 

and available for examination at SoG, 

various FHSs and CROs, while the 

1881 Census project was a major undertaking 

that has proved invaluable to 

researchers. Another major initiative is 

the National Burials Index being compiled 

under the auspices of FFHS. 

INTERNET 

Without a doubt, the greatest boost to 

British genealogical research in recent 

years has been the impact of the Internet. 

The Internet is a worldwide network 

of computers that has been 

around for many years but opened up to 

"the masses" only in the latter half of 

the 1990s. Crude access software gave 

way to sophisticated browsers such as 

Netscape and Explorer and efficient 

search engines such as Yahoo and Alta 

Vista to make "surfing" the World 

Wide Web (WWW) a viable proposition. 

Anyone with a PC and a telephone 

can, with relatively little outlay, acquire 

a modem, sign up with an Internet service 

provider and go online. As more 

and more users opted for the service an 

increasing number of news groups and 

mailing lists were made available for 

family historians. People discovered 

that e-mail messages and news group 

postings were answered in 24 or 48 

hours. Whether a person lived in New 

Zealand, Hawaii or England made no 

difference. The growth in Internet usage 

could not be ignored by the premier 

UK genealogical bodies. Innovators 

such as GENUKI had long set up sophisticated 

and information rich home 

Web pages. The PRO, SoG and FTM 

established WWW sites as did many 

genealogists and record services. Dick 

Eastman of the USA started a quality 

weekly newsletter, Eastman's Online 

Genealogy, which became essential 

reading for all family historians. What 

we all wanted for years was archives 

available for search online and it suddenly 

happened. Scotland put its indexes 

to vital records online, albeit for 

a charge. English and Welsh GRO registers 

won't be online in the near future 

but don't assume that the LDS and the 


Page 12 


Registrar General won't reach an agreement 

to copy the certificates, index 

them and publish them on the Web or 

on CD-ROM. The Commonwealth War 

Graves Commission went online with 

records of 1.7 million British and Commonwealth 

men and women who lost 

their lives in the two World Wars. The 

details given vary according to information 

available but it is a magnificent 

facility and a boon for one-namers. 

British Columbia in Canada led the 

way in placing vital records online and, 

hopefully, other Canadian provinces 

will follow. The National Archives of 

Canada has Books of Remembrance for 

members of the Canadian Expeditionary 

Force who fell in various conflicts. 

I have found several English born relatives 

in these Canadian sites. Enthusiastic 

surfers will find obituaries, shipping 

lists, college alumni, census records, 

land records, etc., etc. For a low 

monthly subscription there is a wealth 

of information waiting for the genealogist 

and the number of useful family 

history sites is growing monthly. (See 

World Wide Web). 

IRCs 

International Reply Coupons were devised 

as a means of payment for the 

cost of a reply from a foreign correspondent. 

IRCs can be purchased at 

post offices in many (but not all) countries, 

can be mailed overseas and can 

then be exchanged for postage stamps 

to enable the foreign correspondent to 

reply. An unwieldy and expensive system 

but many a British FHS or genealogical 

service insists upon IRCs. 

IRELAND 

Irish research is more difficult than that 

in the rest of the British Isles. Civil registration 

commenced in 1864 but many 

Irish records at the Public Record Office 

in Dublin were destroyed in the 

'Unrest' of 1922. Records from 1864 to 

1922, for all Ireland, and from 1922 for 

the Republic are held at the Office of 

the Registrar General, Joyce House, 8- 

11 Lombard Street, Dublin 2, Ireland. 

Northern Irish records since 1922 are 

held at the GRO, Oxford House, 49-55 

Chichester Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 

BT1 4HL. Virtually all 19th century 

census returns have been destroyed 

but the Irish censuses for 1901 and 

1911 may be examined at The National 

Archives in Bishop Street, Dublin 8, 

Ireland. (Researchers should note that 

the 100 Year Rule prohibits disclosure 

of the 1911 returns for the six Northern 

Ireland counties of Antrim, Armagh, 

Derry, Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone 

but they may be scrutinised in Dublin.) 

The SoG has a collection of printed 

books on Ireland including Dublin directories 

from 1761 to 1846. You will 

almost certainly have to use a researcher 

in Ireland. Hibernian Research 

Company Limited claim they are Ireland's 

oldest and largest research company. 

They also claim they proved the 

ancestries of former President Reagan 

and former Prime Minister Mulroney. 

HRCL is at PO Box 3097, Dublin 6, 

Ireland, fax number + 353 1 497 3011. 

Irish Roots is a quarterly genealogical 

publication from Belgrave Publications, 

Belgrave Avenue, Cork, Ireland. The 

Irish Genealogical Research Society 


has a library located at the Irish Club, 

82 Eaton Square, London, England, 

SW1W 9AJ. The society publishes The 

Irish Genealogist annually. 

JEWS See Non-Conformists. 

LAY SUBSIDIES 

Lay subsidies were early taxes from 

14th century. Lay subsidy rolls may be 

examined at the PRO. The rolls record 

details of parish inhabitants and taxes 

due for a period of about 300 years. 

LDS 

Part of the faith of the Church of Jesus 

Christ of Latter-day Saints requires 

members' ancestors to be baptised into 

the Church. It follows that all Mormons 

are interested to a greater or lesser degree 

in genealogy. Many years ago the 

LDS began a worldwide program to 

microfilm parish registers in order to 

identify deceased ancestors for temple 

work (ie baptism into the Mormon 

faith.) The Mormons were pioneers in 

the development of computer indexes 

for the family historian and today produce 

the International Genealogical Index 

(the IGI) every few years. Initially 

available on microfiche, the IGI is now 

produced in both fiche and CD-ROM 

versions and is also available to be 

searched on the internet. The hundreds 

of millions of entries in the IGI represent 

a combination of members' temple 

submissions from 1840 to the present 

day (with many inaccuracies) and the 

professional systematic extraction program. 

Users of the IGI should treat it 

only as an aid. All information should 

be verified with the original parish records 

or with microfilmed copies available 

at a small fee from the LDS. The 

LDS set up FHCs throughout the world. 

Use of these libraries is available free 

of charge (although a small donation is 

welcomed) to non-members of the 

church and the facilities include many 

other items of genealogical data on 

fiche and microfilm including census 

returns. The LDS regularly publishes 

The Family History Library Catalogue 

(FHLC) which is a computer produced 

guide to books, parish records, census 

returns and other historical data, and is 

available on fiche and CD-ROM. 

Searchers use the FHLC as an index to 

other fiches and microfilms that may be 

ordered at a nominal viewing charge. 

There is also extensive paper-based material 

including guides and books. The 

LDS encourages genealogists who are 

not members of the church to submit 

their own work for worldwide distribution. 

Pedigrees can be submitted as part 

of the LDS Ancestral File computer database, 

and published works are gratefully 

accepted for microfilming. In 

1998 the LDS embarked on a new 

phase of making genealogical information 

available to the public on CD- 

ROM. The first release was a single CD 

containing the 1851 Census for the 

three counties of Devon, Norfolk and 

Warwickshire. These were the counties 

used in the "dummy run" for the 1881 

project and there are no further plans 

for 1851 Census releases. The 1851 

census CD-ROM was followed by the 

1881 census CD-ROM package. Both 

are fully indexed and contain comprehensive 

details from the enumerators' 

returns. The LDS quickly followed up 

with three multiple CD-ROM packages 

of Vital Records for Australia, British 

Isles and North America. The British 

Isles package contains a database of 

five CD-ROMs, one for marriages and 

four for births and baptisms. In all there 

are 5 million records indexed and the 

vast majority are new (ie not in the IGI) 

and are from the controlled extraction 

program. All these CD-ROMs are user 

friendly and are ridiculously low priced 

in comparison with other CD’s of genealogical 

data available for purchase. 

For full details of CD’s available visit 

the website at www.lds.org.uk/ 

genealogy/software.htm You can now 

order most of the LDS collection of 

computer CD’s by telephone and pay 

by credit card on 08700 102051 You 

can also post your order to: The Distribution 

Centre, Family History CD’s, 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday 

Saints, 399 Garretts Green Lane, 

Birmingham, B33 OUH. Cheques 

should be made payable to The Church 

of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint (See 

IGI.) 

LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETIES 

There are local history societies 

throughout the UK who publish valuable 

material relating to their areas of 

interest. The British Association for 

Local History at PO Box 1576, Salisbury, 

Wiltshire, England, SP2 8SY will 

provide further information including a 

back number of the magazine, The Local 

Historian. 

LONDON METROPOLITAN AR- 

CHIVES 

The LMA, formerly the Greater London 

Record Office (GLRO), is the largest 

local authority archive in England. 

The LMA's extensive array of records 

includes parish records (many indexed), 

bishops' transcripts, electoral registers, 

school registers and other records relating 

to persons, places and institutions 

within the former counties of London 

and Middlesex. There are collections of 

maps, prints and drawings and a library 

of old photographs. The LMA is located 

at 40 Northampton Road, London, 

England, EC1R 0HB. Tel 020 

7332 3820 Fax 020 7833 9136 

MANORIAL RECORDS 

These are typically found in a CRO. 

Manorial records extend back to the 

time of the Conqueror and cover such 

events as the conveyancing of land and 

the holding of courts to hear major 

crimes and petty offences. There is a 

Manorial Documents Register which is 

an index giving the location of known 

existing records. It may be examined at 

The National Register of Archives, The 

Royal Commission on Historical 

Manuscripts, Quality House, Quality 

Court, Chancery Lane, London, England, 

WC2A 1HP. 

MARRIAGES 

Marriages can be traced in the civil registration 

system from 1837 on and in 

the old parish registers before 1837. A 

couple could marry by banns or by licence. 

A marriage by banns necessitated 

the banns (announcement of marriage) 

being called in the parishes of 

both the intended at three weekly inter- 




vals before the marriage. Wealthier 

people frequently married by licence to 

avoid the unnecessary publicity. Many 

old banns books and copies of licences 

are still available. It is worth checking 

the FHLC at an FHC or the archives at 

the appropriate CRO. Be aware that an 

entry in a banns book or the existence 

of a licence does not prove a couple 

was married. I have one ancestor whose 

name was entered in a parish banns 

book twice within twelve months but 

she married only the second of the two 

men named therein. (See Civil Registration, 

Certificates and Parish Registers.) 

MIGRANTS 

These are the people who moved within 

the UK. The Industrial Revolution 

brought phenomenal changes to the 

population distribution in Britain. Hundreds 

of thousands moved from the 

countryside to the city. Manchester's 

population grew from 75,000 in 1800 to 

400,000 by 1850. The populations of 

London, Glasgow, Liverpool and Birmingham 

all tripled during this period. 

Tracing ancestors during the first half 

of 19th century can be difficult. 

MILITARY 

(See Army, Navy & Air Force.) 

MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS 

Genealogical research is not limited to 

tracing through the civil registration 

system, the Victorian census and old 

parish records. There are extensive records 

available to the family historian 

in many archives. The PRO and the 

SoG have huge holdings whilst the 

CROs have records relevant to their 

area. Miscellaneous records that may 

interest the overseas researcher include 

American & West Indian Colonies records 

before 1782 (PRO), apprenticeship 

records (CROs), apprenticeship 

registers (PRO), Chancery proceedings 

(PRO), coastguard records (PRO), foreign 

office records (PRO), heraldry 

publications (IHGS and SoG), Huguenots 

collection (SoG), land grants in 

America and American loyalist claims 

(PRO), militia muster rolls (PRO), operational 

records of the British Army, 

Navy and Air Force (PRO), professions 

- biographies and listings of architects, 

lawyers, doctors, MPs, etc. 

(SoG), shipping, seamen and shipwrecks 

(PRO), Royal Irish Constabulary 

(PRO), etc., etc. Access to archives, 

a new website at www.a2a.pro. 

gov.uk is an excellent online catalogue 

which gives valuable information about 

archives in England - who holds them 

and how to access them etc. 

MIs 

Monumental inscriptions can supplement 

information obtained from parish 

registers. Gravestones are subject to the 

ravages of the British weather but many 

are still legible and a church or chapel 

often contains MIs, (which are not 

unique to tombstones.) Gravestones are 

also subject to the ravages of local authorities 

who prefer to maintain level 

lawns for easy mowing and thus remove 

the headstones. Fortunately, 

many FHSs have recorded and indexed 

their MIs. Transcripts may have been 

lodged in the CROs. Churches and 

graveyards are worth visiting since the 

MIs may offer details of births and 

deaths of previously unknown family 

members. (See Cemeteries.) 

MORMONS 

(See LDS.) 

MUSEUMS 

There are some magnificent museums 

with archives waiting for the genealogist. 

Some with obvious interest are: 

Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, 

London, England, SE1 6HZ (British & 

German documents); National Army 

Museum, Royal Hospital Road, London, 

England, SW3 4HT (military papers 

covering British and Commonwealth 

forces); National Maritime Museum, 

Romney Road, Greenwich, London, 

England, SE10 9NF (crew lists, 

Lloyd's Surveys and ship plans); and 

the British Telecom Museum, Baynard 

House, 135 Queen Victoria Street, London, 

England, EC4V 4AT (Historical 

Telephone Library with telephone directories 

from 1880.) 

NEWSPAPERS 

Newspapers have been published in 

Britain since at least the 17th century. 

A family history may be "fleshed out" 

with information from papers such as 

obituaries, editorial or advertisements. 

Unless your ancestor was a well-known 

personality or criminal, local newspapers 

are likely to provide more information 

than nationals. The largest collection 

of national and local newspapers 

can be found at the Newspaper Library, 

which is part of the BL (see earlier 

for address.) The Guildhall Library 

holds a complete set of the London Gazette 

and further newspaper holdings 

will be found at the SoG, the Bodleian 

Library at Oxford, and most CROs and 

museums. Many FHSs and local museums 

have indexed their holdings and I 

was surprised and delighted to read 

about my great grandfather in 19th century 

newspaper archives on a chance 

visit to the Dorking & District Museum. 

The (London) Times is indexed 

and the SoG library has Palmer's Index 

to the Times on CD-ROM for issues 

covering the period 1790 to 1905. 

NONCONFORMISTS 

Non-conformists or dissenters were 

people who did not follow the doctrine 

of the Anglican church (the Church of 

England.) Britain broke with the Catholic 

Church of Rome when Henry VIII 

declared himself 'Supreme Head of the 

English Church' by the Act of Supremacy 

of 1534. Some priests refused to 

accept the new Anglican Church and 

religious meetings were held by Roman 

Catholics, and people were baptised 

and married in secret by RC priests. 

Mary I reigned as a Catholic queen for 

five years but Elizabeth I reintroduced 

the Church of England in 1558. Religious 

persecution continued in 17th 

century and independent (dissenting) 

chapels were established by Presbyterians, 

Quakers and Baptists. James II 

briefly reigned as a Catholic king in the 

1680s but was overthrown in the 

'Glorious Revolution' of 1688. Nonconformists 

include Huguenots, Congregationalists, 

Methodists, Moravians, 

Lutherans, Quakers and Jews. Many 

non-conformist registers have survived 

and are today in the safe-keeping of the 

PRO. Jews and Roman Catholics refused 

to submit their registers to the 

PRO (see Catholics.) CROs or existing 

synagogues should have Jewish records. 

The Anglo-Jewish Association 

can help historians trace their Jewish 

ancestry. The AJA is at Woburn House, 

Upper Woburn Place, London, England, 

WC1H 0EP. The American Jewish 

Archives has comprehensive records 

of Jews arriving in the US before 

1900. The Archives are located at Hebrew 

Union College, 3101 Clifton Avenue, 

Cincinnati, Ohio 45220, USA. 

Some Presbyterian and Congregational 

records may be found at Dr Williams 

Library, 14 Gordon Square, London, 

England, WC1H 0AG. Baptist records 

may also be at Dr Williams Library and 

at Baptist Church House, 4 Southampton 

Row, London, England, WC1B 

4AB. Huguenot ancestry may be traced 

through the Huguenot Society, 54 

Knatchbull Road, London, England, 

SE5 9QY. Quaker records are reputed 

to be the most comprehensive of all 

non-conforming faiths since the registers 

were transcribed before being deposited 

at the PRO. An index to the 

registers may be examined at The Society 

of Friends Library, Friends House, 

Euston Road, London, England, NW1 

2BJ. 

OCCUPATIONS 

One's ancestors may have been kings or 

carpenters. Many of us will have agricultural 

labourers (ag. labs.) in our family 

history as well as individuals whose 

occupations have disappeared over the 

years. SoG's bookshop has several 

books on occupations including Dictionary 

of Old Trades and Occupations 

by Andrew & Sandra Twining. Useful 

guides include the Shire Album series 

and a recommended initial buy is 

FFHS's An Introduction to Occupations 

(available from FFHS). 

OFFICE FOR NATIONAL STATIS- 

TICS 

The Office for National Statistics 

(ONS) is the government department 

that provides statistical and registration 

services. The National Statistician, Len 

Cook, is the Director of ONS and Registrar 

General for England & Wales. 

ONS is responsible for producing a 

wide range of key economic and social 

statistics which are used by policy makers 

across government to create evidence-based 

policies and monitor performance 

against them. The Office also 

builds and maintains data sources both 

for itself and for its business and research 

customers. It makes statistics 

available so that everyone can easily 

assess the state of the nation, the performance 

of government and their own 

position. The Office also incorporates 

the General Register Office for England 

and Wales (GRO). The GRO is responsible 

for ensuring the registration of all 

births, marriages and deaths in England 

and Wales, and for maintaining a central 

archive dating back to 1837. 

The Genealogical A-Z will continue in 

April’s journal or you can see the 

complete A to Z through links at www. 

Genuki.org.uk

Page 14 

Computer Viruses– Are You Protected 

As a computer and internet user who has suffered from destructive 

viruses, I felt it might be useful to pass on this information 

about recent viruses courtesy of RootsWeb Review: 

Vol. 5, No. 40, 2 October 2002. - Pat Boucher. 

Be Careful Out There. The Bugbear is no teddy bear. It is an 

e-mail worm containing backdoor components that can allow 

an infected system to be remotely compromised; it also 

includes the ability to kill antivirus and firewall software, 

leaving infected systems wide open to further attacks and 

lulling you into a false sense of security thinking your system 

is virus-free. Genealogists have much more interesting 

things to do than deal with an Internet worm with a Trojan 

horse, but such is life online. 

Bugbear, which hit Great Britain and Australia users first on 

Monday, September 30, according to news reports, is also 

known as Tanatos. It arrives via e-mail with no distinct characteristics 

except that the attached file is always 50,688 

bytes long. The subject line and text are stolen from existing 

e-mail it finds on an infected machine. Many RootsWeb users 

are expressing concerns about this latest varmint because 

unless you pay extra-careful attention you might think an email 

with the attached Bugbear worm is coming from a 

trusted genealogy friend, family member, or from your favourite 

Mailing List. 

Most mailing lists do not allow any attachments, but that 

doesn't mean you won't receive something that will fool you 

into thinking the message is from a mailing list which you 

have subscribed to. This is one clever worm. There are confirmed 

reports of Bugbear even forging some prepends commonly 

used on many mailing lists. If you receive e-mail with 

an attachment that appears to be from say [SURNAME-L] 

and you are not subscribed to that mailing list, that is a good 

indication that it is a message with the Bugbear worm attached. 

Even if you are subscribed to a certain list and there 

is an attachment, do not open it. 

Many of us are still fighting off the Klez worm, which steals 

and forges our e-mail addresses and subject lines, and now 

along comes Bugbear and the Opaserv worms. The latter is a 

network worm that was discovered September 30 also. 

Are you at risk? You certainly are if you are a Windows 

user, and especially if you use Microsoft Internet Explorer 

5.01 or 5.5 browsers and have not applied the patch found in 

MS01-020. [Note: Copy and paste carefully; this is a 2-line 

URL:] http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ 

MS01-020.asp?frame=true 

According to CNET News.com, a flaw in MIME (the multipurpose 

Internet mail extensions) lets a malicious program 

attached to an e-mail message execute (start) when the text 

of the message appears in Outlook or Outlook Express 

(popular e-mail applications). The software problem was 

patched by Microsoft almost 18 months ago, but it is obvi- 


GET NETTED 

ous that many genealogists have not updated their computers. 

Don't know what version of Microsoft Internet Explorer 

you have? Launch the browser, click on the Help 

menu and select About Internet Explorer to find out. 

To prevent infection, Windows users be sure your system is 

current: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/default.htm 

and everyone should update their antivirus software and refrain 

from opening any attachment unless the sender confirms 

that he or she sent it to you. The major antivirus (AV) 

software companies have updated their files to include protection 

from Bugbear -- but you need to be sure your AV is 

up-to-date. Moreover, don't rely exclusively on your AV to 

protect you from every virus or worm that comes along. 

If you use Outlook or Outlook Express for your e-mail application, 

be sure to set your VIEW options to show attachments. 

In Outlook Express make sure that the Preview Pane 

option is off. In Outlook, under VIEW, turn off the Auto 

Review and the Preview Pane. Some e-mail clients treat 

mailing list digests as separate attachments, but those will 

always have the mailing list digest request address as the 

FROM address and they will have the digest volume and 

number in the subject line. However, be wary, if attachment 

is exactly 50,688 bytes, it probably is the Bugbear. 

www.familyrecords.gov.uk 

Whether you have just started your family history research 

or are something of an expert, the newly re-launched family 

history website is an invaluable resource for genealogists. It 

brings together information about records held throughout 

the UK of interest to family historians, from birth certificates 

to military records. 

www.curiousfox.com 

I have received the following from Roseanne , who has set 

up this site. 

Curious Fox is a contact site aimed at anybody interested in 

local history, genealogy and local distinctiveness. The site is 

organised by villages, so that you can find the right village 

and add an entry. You can also check the village location on 

modern maps or an old map, see what other villages are 

nearby, store villages on your own page, be emailed if anybody 

else adds an entry for the village etc. 

You control all your entries and can add, edit and delete at 

will. The system is spamsafe. No email addresses appear on 

the site and all initial contacts are made through a messaging 

system. You can also search by surname and see all entries 

for a county. A search all facility (coming soon) will allow 

searching for other words such as canal, workhouse, clergy. 

I'm hoping that the site will appeal to local historians and 

not just people researching family history so that the two can 

interact. Ideally people who know a village and are willing 

to help or answer queries will make entries as well 




I've developed a red box green box system so that people 

can use the site totally free or pay a small subscription. (£5 

or $8). 

More goodies are planned such as history files for each village, 

members profiles and urls but I need to get the basics 

working first. 

Don't expect miracles. It will take a little while for the site 

to get known and begin to work but the initial feedback from 

the first few users has been extremely good so it's fingers 

crossed time. If you think the site is good and can give any 

links, publicity or recommendations it will really help me 

get the whole concept working. Thanks. Your help and any 

feedback will really be appreciated. Rosanne. 

Rob Thompson gave the following review of the site in his 

Genuki Newsletter. It is re printed here with his kind permission. 

This is an unusual website in many respects for family historians. 

Certainly a different concept. Basically entries are arranged 

geographically, so you can see people searching for 

families in an area you are interested in. This does fall down 

a little when people select a whole county and you select a 

particular village or town. It is also very much in its infancy, 

with few entries on the site. It also works on a double tier 

system for ‘free’ and ‘paying’ members which I dislike a 

little. Although it must be said the fee is very low at the moment. 

The site requires a little thought to work it out in the 

first place, and is not the easiest to navigate and work your 

way around, but a little patience will pay off as once you 

have worked out the system it will be interesting. You will 

need to pay really as you will get little for nothing! As far as 

I am concerned the jury is out as to whether family historians 

will like the geographic breakdown or prefer the older 

and more familiar name breakdown. 

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jeffery.knaggs/RNShips. 

html 

A nice little website which lists the name and position of 

Royal Navy Ships when the 1901 census was taken. This 

website will have a use for those people who want to know 

where their ancestor was at the time. The site does not list 

names other than captains, but it does give you the PRO census 

reference number to enable you to go straight to that particular 

ship. Easy to use and simply designed. 

www.archivecdbooks.com 

New releases from Archive CD Books (reviews by Rob 

Thompson): 

Nottinghamshire 1861 census. Complete scanned images of 

all of the original census enumerator's books for the whole 

of Nottinghamshire 

The Herts Genealogist and Antiquary Volume 2 - William 

Brigg 1897 

Feudal England- J.H. Round - An excellent collection of the 

results of the author's research into feudal England of the 

11th and 12th centuries. 

The Green Howards in the Great War - An incredibly detailed 

history of this famous Yorkshire regiment during the 

Great War and the third Afghan War of 1919. 

Leicestershire & Rutland 1928 Kelly's Directory - Excellent 

historical background and details of the institutions and facilities 

of each place, along with directories of private residents 

and tradespeople. 

www.hunimex.com/warwick/w-a-p.html 

Warwickshire Ancestors Project 

I have received the following email from Michael McCormick 

Perhaps you would like to draw your members attention to 

this new and growing resource for Warwickshire family historians. 

This project is providing a "free-to-view" transcription 

of the 1891 Warwickshire census returns. It is part of an 

initiative aimed at helping make high quality primary (or 

near-primary) records of relevance to UK family history 

conveniently and freely available online. 

The project makes use of specially developed software modules 

for data entry, checking, validation and database upload. 

My objective in writing to yourselves, the BMGSH, Coventry 

FHS and so on, was to draw your members attention to a 

new, and free, resource. Of course, I would also like to recruit 

more transcribers and checkers. Volunteers need a 

computer and access to a microfiche reader. Microfiche, 

software, instructions and lots of advice will be supplied by 

the organisers. There is also a dedicated mailing list to ask 

questions on and to receive advice about changes or upgrades 

to the software 

There are two phases. In the first, the volunteer transcribes 

the data and enters it into the project software. In the second 

phase, another volunteer checks the transcriptions against 

the microfiche using a separate piece of software. 

Currently we have over 120,000 records for Aston and Birmingham 

online. The project has recently expanded to 

cover north east Warwickshire, including Nuneaton Coventry 

and Rugby. One of the two Nuneaton pieces has already 

been transcribed by Alva King from NNWFHS. 

You might like to know in addition to Cornwall, we also 

have Yorkshire, Hampshire, Bedfordshire, Middlesex and 

Devon returns online. They can be accessed via the main 

web site which is on http://freecen.rootsweb.com/ 

This project will help not just ourselves and others who are 

researching Warwickshire family history now, but to build a 

resource that will help future family historians. 

Online family historians can participate no matter where 

they live. If you believe, as we do, that this information 

should be available for free and freely available, then drop 

me a line: Michael McCormick, Warwickshire Ancestor's 

Project email michael@roseterrace.demon.co.uk

Page 16 

Notice Board 


Forthcoming Events 

Please note that there will probably be a small admission charge for the 

talks listed below. 

Tuesday 29th January 2003. Dr Johnson, His Life and Legacy* A lecture 

by Annette French, Museums and Heritage Officer, Lichfield. At the 

Arnold Building, King Edward 6th Form College, King Edward Road, 

Nuneaton. 7.30 pm - 9.00 pm. This talk is a joint venture between 

NNWFHS and the Historical Association. 

1st of Feb - 30th March, 2003. Post Mortem and Forensic Science. An 

exhibition by Sir Bernard Spilsbury. At the Royal Pump Rooms Art Gallery, 

The Parade, Leamington Spa. 

Tuesday 25th February 2003. Hinckley in the Hungry 40’s. The Framework Knitting Trade and its effects on Hinckley 

life in the 1840’s. A lecture by Hugh Beavin, Chairman of the Hinckley Local History Group. At the Chilvers Coton 

Heritage Centre, Avenue Road, Nuneaton. 7.30 pm - 9.00 pm. 

Saturday 1st March 2003. Old Attleborough, A Local and Family History Exhibition. At the Holy Trinity Church Centre, 

Attleborough Road, Nuneaton from 10am-4pm Admission £1.50. For details of exhibiting or attending, please contact: 

Peter Lee 02476 381090 e.mail:attleboroughian@aol.com 

Saturday 22nd march 2003. Bates Family History Day. See details below. 

Tuesday 25th March 2003. An Aspect of Old Coventry. By Keith Draper, retired historical feature writer for the Coventry 

Evening Telegraph. At Nuneaton Town Hall, Coton Road, Nuneaton. 7.30 pm - 9.00 pm. 

Tuesday 22nd April 2003. The Coventry Silk Trade. Presented by staff from the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry. 

Venue to be confirmed but will either take place at the gallery itself or at Chilvers Coton Heritage Centre, Avenue Road, 

Nuneaton. 7.30 pm - 9.00 pm. 

Tuesday 20th May 2003. My Time as Mayor. By Don Jacques, former Mayor of Nuneaton and member of the Nuneaton 

Society. At the Chilvers Coton Heritage Centre, Avenue Road, Nuneaton. 7.30 pm - 9.00 pm. 

Saturday 7th June 2003. Trip to Kingsbury and Coleshill Churches. Arrive Kingsbury church 11am and Coleshill 

church 2pm. Subject to confirmation. More details later. 

Help Offered 

BATES’ FAMILY HISTORY DAY 

Saturday 8th March 2003 

At the Chilvers Coton Heritage Centre, 

Avenue Road, Nuneaton 

A day for everyone who has a connection with any of 

the Bates families of Nuneaton and North Warwickshire. 

If you have any Bates research, bring it and show it off 

to everyone! If you have any photographs, bring copies 

for all to see (only copies, not precious originals – better 

to be safe than sorry!). 

If you simply THINK you have a Bates married into 

your family or if you are stuck trying to find the right Mr 

or Ms Bates, come along – you might unravel the connection 

or identify which of the Bates clan is “yours”. 

If you have solved all your riddles, please come and tell 

the rest of us mere mortals who are stuck at a seemingly 

dead end. 

Interested? For tickets and or more information, please 

contact either Pat Boucher, 33 Buttermere Ave, Nuneaton, 

Warwicks, CV11 6ET. Tel: 024 7638 3488 or email 

apboucher@btopenworld.com or Jacqui Simkins, Langley 

Mill Farm, Sutton Coldfield B75 7HR 

(jas@langleymill.freeserve.co.uk) and we will gladly 

send you details of times, location map, etc. If enquiring 

by post, a stamped, self-addressed envelope would be 

much appreciated. 

A gentleman has contacted John Parton with the following: I 

have researched the Jee/Gee family name from Bedworth 

back to 1681 with about 85 named descendants and some of 

their spouses. I am willing to share this information with anyone 

researching this name. If you are interested please email 

Teddy at teddymarkhart@yahoo.com. 

Warwickshire County Record Office - Update 

The County Record Office, on its re-opening in the spring of 

2003, will be introducing a series of induction sessions for 

new (and old!!!) users of the office. So if you would like to 

find out how to find your great grandfather or how to look at 

a map of your village, these sessions are for you. Please contact 

the office in March 2003 for dates on (01926) 412735. 

NEW PUBLICATION 

Coming Soon 

Burial index 1813 - 1837 

for the parish churches of: 

St Nicholas, Baddesley Ensor 

Baxterley 

All Saints, Grendon 

St Peter & St Paul, Kingsbury 

The Church of Our Lady, Merevale 

Price £2.75 

Available from Chris Cox, Publications manager

Hall End, Attleborough 1905 - Nuneaton & North Warwickshire ...

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