George Barnard Smith (1885-1962): Michael Hill recounts his grandad’s life – carter, war veteran, and pugilist

Robert Claude Utley (1896-1911) – Eric Saxton tells a tale of a life cut short in a tragic incident – a drowning, while on a Scouting trip

Binfield Parish Council – The Early Days. John Harman takes a look at the early days of local government following the Reform Act of 1832 & 1894 Local Government Act

Polish Ancestral Tourism – Wolf Hunting in Womja (Lomza) part 2. Leigh Dworkin continues with his trip in search of his ancestors

Cheers from England to Australia. Jennifer Bolton details her convict heritage

Polish Ancestral Tourism – Wolf Hunting in Womja (Lomza) – Part 1. Leigh Dworkin takes us on a trip in search of his ancestors

Eric Saxton tells the story of a Soldier, Pioneer, and Arctic Explorer from East Ilsley

Fred Waite continues the story of a much-travelled ancestor – William Watkins Waite and his travelling family

Fred Waite continues the story of a much-travelled ancestor – William Watkins Waite and his travelling family

Terry Wickenden illustrates the problems that can be presented when researching a family

Fred Waite continues the story of a much-travelled ancestor – William Watkins Waite and his travelling family

Elizabeth Lloyd delves into her heritage, “sparked by the stories my Grandma told me of the forest of masts she could see over the roofs when she grew up in Rotherhithe in the 1890s.”

Catherine Sampson takes a look at some local men’s experiences in the Far East. VJ Day has always been something of a poor relation to VE Day, yet many Berkshire villages had men who were in the Far East, Purley included. Several villagers, including subsequent incomers, would laterbriefly recall their ordeal in the camps, including one of Purley’s rectors.

Fred Waite tells the story of a much-travelled ancestor – William Watkins Waite and his travelling family

Dennis Grover follows his paternal great-grandather Fred Grover’s journey to Australia

Richard Brown shares an example of why you should verify all the stories you’ve been told

Jewish genealogy is even more exciting than general genealogy, because it forces you to understand history, geography, new languages, new alphabets as well as social history. There were no Jews in this country between 1290 and 1657 so an ancestor of yours must have come to the UK from some other “old country” be it in Eastern Europe, Germany, Holland or elsewhere.

When perusing about 160 postcards that had been in the possession of my paternal grandmother and her mother, from the beginnings of the 20th century, I realised that they held secrets and clues that other family history sources do not hold

In 1914 Britain had a maritime empire. Goods, people, materials and ideas moved by sea. Nearly 2/3 of the food and drink consumed in Britain came from abroad. This global maritime supply network – that fed and fuelled civilian and military populations – was key to the First World War.

In October 1894 four nuns from The Congregation of Sisters, which had been founded by Mother Marie Madeleine Postel in Normandy, made a difficult journey to Berkshire. After landing at Southampton they took the train to Farnborough. The hard-working Sisters, facing some local discrimination, created their school in an old outfitters shop in about ten days; it was dedicated to St Joseph.

Early in 2014, I set about the task of identifying all the men on the Roll of Honour in St John the Baptist’s Church, Caversham, my church. I aimed to complete this by 11th November 2018 – but I have failed. There are 56 names on this Roll of Honour

The recently published survey of the Burghfield St Mary Memorial Inscriptions (BRK0287) contains lists of the 55 men who were killed in the two world wars. This article describes the techniques used to try and identify the people behind the names not listed, and also records the 31 other people, with connections to Burghfield, who died in these conflicts.

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.