Nonconformism flourished in Newbury after the Reformation, with a proliferation of sects which split, merged and reshaped themselves over the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Thomas Coram's Foundling Hospital opened in 1740 to care for babies abandoned in the streets of London. Many of them were sent to be nursed in Newbury, under a scheme organised through aristocratic patronage, middle-class networking and working-class philanthropy.
The Baptist faith was established in Berkshire by 1640, soon after its emergence from the Puritan movement.
Sources for tracing the history of a house may range widely over maps, pictures, censuses, old newspapers, directories and many more records to build up a holistic picture of a house, its occupants, owners and its place in the local community.
The life-story of Günter Stern/Joe Stirling, who came to Britain aged 14 in 1938 via Kindertransport, and became a prominent and much-loved figure in post-war Norwich.
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
Berkshire Family History Society works to meet the needs of those researching their ancestry across the UK and overseas – as well as those looking for former relatives in historic Berkshire. You do not need to be a member to benefit.
The society offers:
Research Zone in central Reading that is free to use and open to all
Free access at The Centre for Heritage and Family History to online resources like FindMyPast, the 1939 Register, The Genealogist, the British Newspaper Archive and Ancestry (the worldwide edition)
Regular free help and advice sessions
Meetings in Abingdon, Bracknell, Newbury, Reading and Windsor; and a virtual Computer Branch which meets online. All meetings are open to everyone
Community forum – informed answers to research queries and advice from experienced researchers
Members’ Area with data and other information not readily accessible elsewhere
Indexes and transcriptions of Berkshire’s historic records on CD — parish registers, probate documents, monumental inscriptions, maps, First World War history and more
Quarterly magazine, the Berkshire Family Historian, for members
a chance to join in project work, recording, transcribing and helping to preserve records
Links to the research experience, advice and support of members worldwide
