Articles

Penny Stokes takes a look at a long gone substitute for divorce

Richard Croker explains why he joined Berkshire Family History Society

Gillian Hazell tells us of her grandmothers’ life. Frances Ellen Marshall was born in 1894 to single mother, Elizabeth Marshall, an inmate of Wokingham workhouse, situated in Barkham Road.

Michael Barlow shows how much detail can be found from military records and how this enabled him to tell his grandfather’s story

In May 1939 the Military Training
Act was passed by the British Parliament. This required every man aged 20 or 21 to present themselves for 6 months military service. My father, Leonard Sidney Frank Walter was drafted into the Militia on 17th July 1939 – just after his
21st birthday. This is his story

February 6th 2018 marked the 100th anniversary of the passing of The Representation of the People Act, which extended the vote to all men over the age of 21 and to those aged 19 and above in the armed forces. However, more significantly, it gave the franchise to women, specifically those who were aged over 30 and who met the £5 property qualification.

There are obscure documents which, if discovered through a name search in archival catalogues, can reveal remarkable details of a person’s character and life, and perhaps assist in breaking through a brick wall in the parish and probate records. This was my experience when seeking to ascertain the parentage of one of my 8x great grandfathers, Richard Pinnell of Upper Lambourn (Uplambourn in many early records).

In an age when gentlemen and ladies often neither dined together, or shared the same church pews, Bath’s communal facilities must have come as quite a shock for the first-time visitor. When Edward Ward visited the famous city he observed a startling and deeply unattractive picture of the middle classes taking to the waters.

An article about the connection between two families from West Berkshire who came from very different backgrounds, but both resided in the Newbury area at the end of the nineteenth century, and their links with Patagonia.

An aunt showed me a bible belonging to her grandfather Alfred Purton. Inside was an inscription from Queen Victoria …

Over 400,000 baptisms from 156 parish and non-parochial registers of the “old” Royal County of Berkshire. Update available for first and second editions

Bearwood, St. Catherine Monumental Inscriptions 1815 – 2019 CD lists the names of over 1,600 people, and holds transcriptions of their monuments and memorials within the church and churchyard. There are photographs of every extant monument and interactive plans to show the locations of the memorials.

I began writing up my family history about twenty years ago. I wanted to turn my research into a story which included something of what life might have been like for my ancestors. One driver for this was an eager audience within my family who, I suspected, would be quickly bored by a list of dates and places.

David Moseley tells us what can happen when you search the internet. Family history can sometimes throw up some interesting stories and coincidences. One evening in 2017 I came across a notice in the London Gazette which surprised and intrigued me.

Paul Bryant unveils his confusing lineage: In the September 2018 edition of the Berkshire Family Historian there was an interesting article on the Civil War and its protagonists. Of course, there were many other side events taking place that are of more interest to the family historian.

SHOCKING SUICIDE – A man named Robert Ghost, lodging at a cottage in Brook-street, committed suicide on Tuesday afternoon by cutting this throat. He was a pensioner, and latterly had been in a low desponding way, but it was not anticipated that he would lay violent hands upon himself. He partook of a hearty dinner on the day in question and was left alone in the house about half-past two o’clock

This phrase was often used to shame men who didn’t fight in the Great War, but what of the women and children in those times? I have already researched the exploits of my Berkshire male ancestors in the Great War (BFH vol. 39 December 2015) but when I was recently handed a certificate given to a young girl in 1916, this set me thinking about what children did to help the war effort in those times.

Debt has at least as long a history as the concept of money: long before personal banking became the norm, every community has had a few individuals who lent out money to their friends, family and associates.

Katie Amos follows up on an episode from the 2018 series of Who Do You Think You Are?

What then happened to Charlie? Charlie had concluded his letter of 22 October 1915 by informing his parents from Plymouth […]

Kintbury St Mary CD includes Baptisms 1558-1953, Banns 1754-1932, Marriages 1557-1981, Burials 1558-1972.

The Museum is open to the public on the first and third Sundays in the month from 2.00pm to 4.30pm. It is open at other times by arrangement for group bookings (please phone 0118 9549371). See below for specific archival enquiries.

For many family historians the issues with parish registers during the English Civil War and Interregnum are a brick wall. Catherine Sampson explores these issues in the parishes in and around Reading, and also highlights a few of the many opportunities within this period.

James and Charles Butler both responded in early 1915 to the call to arms and volunteered for army service. Jim was 17 and Charlie was 15. They were amongst some 2½ million men who joined the British army voluntarily between August 1914 and December 1915. This is their story

I came to the article ‘Ancient Oak?’ by David Wooldridge and saw that it was about HMS Foudroyant. I thought “I remember seeing Foudroyant moored in Portsmouth Harbour when sailing there in the 1970s and 80s. It was a dismasted warship of Nelson’s era used as a training ship.”