The Cope Hall Colony
The Cope Hall Colony was a social experiment which lasted from 1917 to 1919. Though short-lived, it had lasting influence on the probation service.
The Cope Hall Colony was a social experiment which lasted from 1917 to 1919. Though short-lived, it had lasting influence on the probation service.
Our July talk, given by the popular speaker Mike Cooper, was entitled "Finding (Great) Grandad: Army Records for the Great War
'Finchampstead and its Lords of the Manor' by Christine Cox; and Michael Rea`s talk entitled 'An odd Fyshe'
Newbury Branch Annual Report 2023 - 2024
Reading Branch meeting 29th September 2022 Speaker: Sue Ellis Sue took us on a liberally illustrated look at wills, what they look like, what terminology they include and what information they can give a family historian. Wills were first recorded by the ancient Greeks mainly to explain how to dispose of a person's estate of there were no male heirs. Roman wrote wills too. 272-337AD saw the start of the church's involvement in wills. From the Middle Ages, there are two wills still in existence, those of King Alfred and his nephew. During this time wills were proved exclusively by ecclesiasts. Wills have been used to estimate that 60% of the country's population of 60,000 died in the black death. Wills cover land (real estate) which id 'devised' to beneficiaries, and personal estate (belongings, jewellery, clothes, furniture, etc.) which is 'bequeathed'. Prior to 1837, wills that included real estate only covered land that belonged to the testator up to the date of the…
The years immediately after the Great War saw the greatest impetus for erecting war memorials, but there was no co-ordinated programme, resulting in no national pattern or model; each community made its own decisons. Memorials served as a focus for bereaved families for whom there was no known grave.
Wills can reveal much about family relationships that had been hidden during a testator's life