Articles

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 that “we are going at 12 o’clock this morning”. We learn later that his Unit had been posted to Egypt. He sent to his young brother Jack a Christmas card showing camels and a desert […]

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.”

– Over 250,000 baptisms – Over 777,000 names – 102 parish and non-parochial registers of the “old” Royal County of Berkshire. Update available for first edition

More than 900,000 transcriptions (not an index) – More than 270 churchyards, cemeteries, burial grounds and workhouses – 71,000 more entries than 11th Edition – Covers ALL of ‘old’ Berkshire – Updates available for ninth, 10th and 11th editions

Wills are a valuable resource for family history researchers and are particularly important once the research progresses back into the parish registers and we no longer have the censuses to provide confirmation of family groupings. Berkshire Probate Index: an index to the probate documents of the Archdeaconry of Berkshire 1480 to 1857

Index to the probate documents of the Archdeaconry of Berkshire. 39,000 probate records are included. It is easy to search or to browse.

6 inch to the mile scale, first edition OS maps of Berkshire, scanned from the set held at Berkshire Record Office

Following September 2008’s opening of the Broadmoor archives to the public, Mark Stevens of the Berkshire Records Office describes some of the challenges facing conservators

The museum at the Thames Valley Police Training College at Sulhamstead contains an exceptional collection, including uniforms and equipment, and accounts of notorious crimes committed in Berkshire in Victorian times. The Metropolitan Police Force was created by Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel in 1829, but it took another 27 years before counties and boroughs established their own police forces. Reading was more progressive than most towns, establishing its own force in 1836.