St. Peter’s Church, Caversham, Reading, from the north-east, showing the church, and part of the churchyard with tombstones (courtesy of Reading Local Studies Illustration Collection)

Articles

Thomas Willats: High Sheriff and Prisoner

Thomas Willats, from a notable Berkshire family, faced extensive legal disputes and financial difficulties. Despite owning Kidmore End estate, he endured 17 years in debtor’s prison amid multiple Chancery cases, family inheritance conflicts and controversial associations with Ely Stott. His extensive correspondence and legal records reveal both personal and financial struggles.

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12 Feb 2025

St Michael's Inkpen

Articles

The Butlers of Inkpen

St Michael’s Church in Inkpen, Berkshire, a Grade II* listed thirteenth century building with flint walls and Bath stone dressings, stands at the North Wessex Downs. Rich in history, it preserves memorials to the influential Butler family, whose contributions over 150 years, with renovations and ecclesiastical roles, have shaped the parish’s religious and community life.

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12 Feb 2025

Portrait of Mrs Davenport

Articles

When My GGG-Great Aunt Terrified The Queen

Richard Peaver recounts a royal tale, an attack on the queen in 1813 by a domestic servant suffering from mental health issues

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11 Feb 2025

View from Windmill Hill showing River Tamar North Esk, Launceston Bridge and George Town Road, 1848
Frederick Strange (1807-1873), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Articles

John Abell of Marcham, Berkshire – my 3x great grandfather

“It is a shame I should suffer more than the rest, as others are as guilty as I am.” - John Abell, 13 July 1837

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22 Nov 2024

Lithograph of the First Fleet of sailing ships in Botany Bay Harbour

A View of Botany Bay. State Library of New South Wales, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Articles

Three guineas and a wooden dish

In March 1785 when Thomas Heddington (surname is also recorded as Headington, Eddington, Addington and Haddington) broke into Isaac Sewell’s house, I am sure he had no idea that he would be part of the first British settlement of Australia.

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22 Nov 2024

Malthouse - Bullock Family Tree

Articles

Bullock, Malthouse and Montague

Much has been written about the Bullock, Malthouse and Montague families over the last two centuries, providing some excellent resources, but the potential relationship between these families during the early to mid sixteenth century remains very muddled.

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22 Nov 2024

Colour cartoon depiction from 1893 of Old King Cole being entertained by his fiddlers three while the cook brings his bowl

Old King Cole ©Maxfield Parrish (1893) [public domain] via Wikimedia Commons

Articles

Meet My Grandad: Old King Cole

Old King Cole was a merry old soul - we all know that. What you didn't know, perhaps, was that he was my grandad.

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22 Nov 2024

Five people with safety helmets and helmet lights standing on the floor of a chalk mine

Articles

A visit to the Emmer Green Chalk Mines

In May, the Berkshire Family History Society and the scouts gave me a long-awaited pleasure. Having heard stories of the chalk mines in Emmer Green, I had given up hope of ever visiting; but the wait was wort

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22 Nov 2024

The author outside the forge at Silver Lane, Padworth 2009

Articles

Who were the Sopers?

c. 2009, the lane in Padworth on which the church and Padworth House stand was named Sopers Lane, chosen to commemorate one of the village's oldest families. Shirley Dixon has researched the family for many years.

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31 May 2024