Paisley Poor Law indexes updated

Paisley Heritage Centre (www.renfrewshireleisure.com/heritage) has announced a significant update to its online Poor Law records indexes:

This important source of information for people researching their family history and Paisley and Renfrewshire’s social history is now much easier to search. The Heritage Centre has created an online version of the Paisley Poor Law Indexes to open up the collection to those with ancestors from this area.

We have recently completed indexing Series 14 of the Poor Law statements, which consists of an additional 100 volumes dating from 1930 to 1948. This adds approximately 15000 entries to our existing index.

To consult the index, visit https://libcat.renfrewshire.gov.uk/iguana/uploads/file/Website%20version%202019.pdf

(With thanks to the heritage centre)

Chris

Order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Scottish-Ancestry-through-Church-and-State-Records-Paperback/p/16848. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

North Lanarkshire records added to Ancestry

The following Scottish collections have been added to Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk):

North Lanarkshire, Scotland, Electoral Registers, 1847-1969
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/northlanarkshire/
Source: North Lanarkshire Electoral Registers, North Lanarkshire Archives, Motherwell, Scotland.

This database contains yearly registers listing names and residences of people in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, who were eligible to vote in elections. These year-by-year registers can help place your ancestors in a particular place and possibly also reveal some information about property they owned.


North Lanarkshire, Scotland, Poor Law Applications and Registers, 1849-1917
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/northlanarkshirepoorlaw/
Source: North Lanarkshire Poor Law Applications and Registers, North Lanarkshire Heritage Centre, Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland.

After the Poor Law Scotland Act of 1845, Scottish parishes were able to establish institutions called Parochial Boards to care for the poor, house them and give out relief. Whilst there was a Central Supervising body, each institution was locally run. Unlike the poor in England, those who were destitute in Scotland were able to appeal if denied relief.

This collection contains applications for relief from parish institutions in North Lanarkshire. To establish the needs of the applicant and their eligibility, Inspectors of the Poor recorded large amounts of personal data in ‘registers of applications’ or ‘general registers of poor’.

Applications and General Registers will normally include:

• Name of applicant, including maiden name of women
• Age and/or birth date
• Birthplace, including county of birth (compulsory from 1865)
• Religion (from 1865)
• Dependants, including children’s names, ages, places of birth
• Marital history
• Names of applicant’s parents and parents-in-law, confirming where born and if still alive
• Previous addresses

Have fun!

Chris

Order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. My next Scottish Research Online course starts 2 September 2019 - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

TheGenealogist adds Charles Booth's London poverty maps

From TheGenealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk):

TheGenealogist’s Map Explorer adds the Charles Booth Poverty Maps of London

TheGenealogist’s innovative Map Explorer, which allows family history researchers to trace an ancestor’s property and then view the changing environment over time, now boasts another powerful new feature.

While previously researchers were able to view the georeferenced Lloyd George Domesday Survey Data Layer of maps and also see the sites of UK War Memorials, cemeteries and churchyards from across the country, TheGenealogist has now added the fascinating Booth Poverty Maps of London 1898-1899 to this useful resource.

● Use the new Charles Booth Maps to reveal London streets classified by income and class

● Research neighbourhoods where different classes of people lived close to each other

● Use the opacity slider to view various modern day maps as a base layer to see the area today

There were seven classifications detailed on Booth Maps ranging from the lowest to the wealthy. Those streets coloured black were for the ‘Lowest classes. Vicious, semi-criminal’. Next was dark blue for the ‘Very poor, casual. Chronic want’. This was followed by light blue to indicate ‘Poor. 18s to 21s a week for a moderate family’. Streets in purple indicated ‘Mixed. Some comfortable others poor’. Those roads in pink were ‘Fairly comfortable. Good ordinary earnings’. Red designated a street inhabited by the ‘Middle class. Well to do’, while yellow the ‘Upper-middle and upper classes. Wealthy.’

Diamond subscribers to TheGenealogist are able to use the interface by clicking on the large map of England, Scotland and Wales on the main search page.

The next screen allows the researcher to enter major street names or an area so that you can browse the locality.

In the recent BBC 1 Who Do You Think You Are? episode, Oscar winning actress Kate Winslet was researching her 2x great-grandfather, a Swedish born tailor, who lived in Great Pulteney Street, Westminster. Using this example we start typing Great Pulteney into the search box. We are presented with a choice of two from which we select the one that is in the City of Westminster, Greater London. Under Map Layers we chose the ‘Historic – Middle Layer’ and here select the ‘1898-1899 Charles Booth’s London’ from the dropdown menu. This will now highlight the street on the map.

TheGenealogist’s powerful Map Explorer has been developed to view these georeferenced historic maps overlaid on top of modern background maps including those from Ordnance Survey and Bing Street maps, as well as a satellite view. With the Map Explorer you can search for an ancestor's property, discovering its site, even if the road has changed or is no longer there.

See our featured article on Kate Winslet’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? where she makes use of the Booth Maps in her research: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2019/who-do-you-think-you-are/kate-winslet-1156/

Find out more at www.TheGenealogist.co.uk/maps/

(With thanks to Nick Thorne)

Chris

Order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. My next Scottish Research Online course starts 2 September 2019 - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Irish and Scottish poor law records added to FindmyPast

This week's releases on FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk):

Donegal Workhouses Registers and Minute Books
Search for your Irish ancestry through more than 400,000 new and exclusive records from the Donegal workhouses. The records include admission and discharge registers as well as board of guardians' minute books. The books span from 1840 to 1922, comprise records from 7 poor law unions across Donegal and join our growing collection of Irish Work House and Poor Law records. These records are also available to browse. The unions covered include Ballyshannon, Donegal, Dunfanaghy, Glentis, Inishowen, Letterkenny, Milford, and Stranorlar. The original records are held by the Donegal County Council and have been digitised through a partnership with Findmypast. Within the collection, you will find a wide variety of records.

Scotland, Highland Poor Law 1845-1929
Find out if your Highland ancestors fell on hard times with more than 9,000 new poverty relief records. These detailed transcripts can reveal a wide range of information about your ancestors, a description of the relief they received, location, their occupation, residence, earnings, the names and earnings of their relatives, how poor they actually were and the nature of their disability (if disabled).

Scotland, Highlands and Islands Assisted Emigration 1852-1857
Search the names of those who received assistance from the Highlands and Islands Emigration Society in emigrating from the Highlands of Scotland for Australia. Each transcript will reveal when your ancestor's dates and ports of both departure and arrival, their age and residence, the ship they sailed on, the name of their sponsor and the amount they received.

British & Irish Roots Collection
More than 1.2 million records has been added to our exclusive British and Irish Roots Collection, a vast database of nearly 100 million records, handpicked by our in-house experts, that identify a British or Irish emigrants in North America.

International Records Update – Luxembourg
Does your family tree have roots in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg? Find out with three new indexes of births & baptisms, marriages and deaths & burials spanning the years 1662 to 1840.

British & Irish Newspaper Update
This week we are delighted to welcome 137,896 new pages to The Archive, with new pages adding to 18 existing publications spanning 128 years from 1871 to 1999. This week's new additions include:

Staffordshire Sentinel: 1906-1910, 1918-1919
Newcastle Evening Chronicle: 1894, 1913, 1919
The People: 1946-1949
Newcastle Chronicle: 1875-1896, 1899-1900
Surrey Advertiser: 1909
Limerick Chronicle: 1825
Aberdeen Press and Journal: 1983-1984
Walsall Observer, and South Staffordshire Chronicle: 1873-1911, 1925-1933, 1958-1969
Pinner Observer: 1999
Harrow Leader: 1998-1999
Ealing Leader: 1998-1999
Hayes & Harlington Gazette: 1998-1999
Acton Gazette: 1871-1880, 1885, 1888-1892, 1894-1903, 1910-1917, 1921-1939
Amersham Advertiser: 1998
Hammersmith & Shepherds Bush Gazette: 1991
Dumfries and Galloway Standard: 1874, 1884
Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough: 1901-1902
Hamilton Advertiser: 1889-1892, 1894, 1897, 1901, 1903-1904, 1906-1908

Further information, and links, at https://blog.findmypast.co.uk/findmypast-fridays-june-28th-2019-2639002540.html

Chris

Pre-order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) for just £11.99 at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. Details of my genealogical research service are available at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Ancestry adds London Poor Law Hospital Admissions and Discharges records

Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) has finally added a new English collection to its site, the first in some time.

London, England, Poor Law Hospital Admissions and Discharges, 1842-1918
https://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61711&key=U
(Source: Board of Guardians records held by the London Metropolitan Archives, London, England)

About London, England, Poor Law Hospital Admissions and Discharges, 1842-1918

Historical Context

After the Poor Law Act of 1834, workhouses became the main vehicle of assistance for the poor. Conditions were very hard and many of those who entered workhouses needed medical care. Infirmaries attached to workhouses, and administered by the Poor Law Unions were used to provide some relief for the impoverished elderly, chronically ill and anyone who suffered from one of many ailments prevalent at the time.

The role of the Workhouse infirmaries steadily expanded over the 19th century and by 1900, they were used to treat and care for not only Workhouse inmates but non-paupers as well; some were even operating as private hospitals.

This Collection

Users may find the following details for individuals found in the registers (where available):

Name
Gender
Admission Date
Age
Death Date
Discharge Date
Poor Law Union

Chris

My next Scottish Research Online course starts March 11th 2019 - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Details of my genealogical research service are available at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. For my Scottish and Irish themed books, visit https://britishgenes.blogspot.com/p/my-books.html. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Paisley poor law records indexes online

Good news for those with connections to Paisley in Renfrewshire:

Heritage Centre makes Paisley Poor Law Indexes searchable online.

This important source of information for people researching their family history and Paisley and Renfrewshire’s social history is now much easier to search. The Heritage Centre has created an online version of the Paisley Poor Law Indexes to open up the collection to those with ancestors from this area. Find out more about these unique records, the information they contain, and how they can help you with your research on our website: https://libcat.renfrewshire.gov.uk/iguana/www.main.cls?surl=PoorLaw


From the site itself:

What area and time period do the records cover?

The records start in 1839 and run until 1942, with Parochial Boards being responsible for the administration of these records. The boards covered by our records are –

• Paisley Parochial Board
• Paisley Parish Council
• Paisley Burgh
• Abbey Parochial Board

What information is contained in a Poor Law application?

Information contained in applications for poor relief can be very useful to people researching their family history, but its depth can vary considerably. Records can include general information, such as

• name age and place of birth
• name of spouse and date and place of marriage
• parents’ names and names and ages and residence of children, and if any of them are deceased
• present address and previous addresses

They can also include detailed additional information about the family’s circumstances. Some even include birth, marriage, and death certificates, reports, wills, and newspaper cuttings.

(With thanks to Kirsty Wilkinson via Facebook)

Chris

My next 5 week long Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs course commences Nov 6th 2017 - details at https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

Kirkcaldy Poor Law records on Ancestry

Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) has added some poor law records from Kirkcaldy in Fife, Scotland, to its site.

Kikcaldy, Fife, Scotland, Poor Law Records, 1888-1912
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61428
Source: Abden Poorhouse Record Book, Fife Library and Archives Service, Fife, Scotland.

About Kikcaldy, Fife, Scotland, Poor Law Records, 1888-1912

This collection contains Poor Law Union Records for Kikcaldy, Fife, Scotland ranging from 1888-1912. It includes records for those who received help from the Abden Home Poor Law Institution, originally named the Kirkcaldy Combination Poorhouse.

Details vary depending on record type, but you might find facts such as:

Name
Date of admission
Date of discharge
Reason discharged
Occupation
Gender
Marital status
Religion
Age
Date of death


The record page unfortunately has a collection description which is just completely wrong, discussing the implementation of the poor law system in England from 1601 and 1834.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record... Scotland is not England!

The Old Poor Law Act in Scotland was passed in 1579, whilst the Poor Law (Scotland) Amendment Act provisions did not commence until 1845. There were never any Boards of Guardians involved in Scotland, instead, we had parochial boards which answered to a Board of Supervision in Edinburgh.

Ancestry may well wish to revisit this description....!

UPDATE 21 OCT: Ancestry has revisited the Historical Context description, and replaced a few paragraphs on the English poor law system with the following extremely short description of Scotland's set up:

"After the Poor Law Scotland Act of 1845, Scottish parishes were able to establish institutions to care for the poor, house them and give out relief. Whilst there was a Central Supervising body, each institution was locally run."

If you need a wee bit more on how Scotland's set up actually existed, do check out my book Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis (see http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html)!

Chris

My next 5 week long Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs course commences Nov 6th 2017 - details at https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

West Lothian poorhouse records added to FindmyPast

The following records collections have been added to or updated on FindmyPast (www.findmypast.com):

United States Marriages
Over 4.3 million new records covering Nevada and California have just been added to our collection of United States Marriage records. Covering 360 years of marriages from 1650-2010, when complete this landmark collection will contain at least 100 million records and more than 450 million names from 2,800 counties across America.

Scotland, Linlithgowshire (West Lothian), Poorhouse records 1859-1912
Our collection of Linlithgowshire Poorhouse records captures the details of more than 15,000 people who were admitted between 1859 and 1912. The collection contains a variety of different record types including admissions, deaths, discharges and sick rolls that will reveal your ancestor's admission date, behaviour during their stay, previous residence, and more. These records also include admissions to the "lunatic" section of the poorhouse, a term that reflects the terminology and beliefs of the time. In the early years of the Poor Law Act, individuals suffering from mental health problems were admitted to poorhouses until separate buildings and asylums were built from 1875 onwards.

Scotland, Linlithgowshire (West Lothian), Burials 1860-1975
Discover where your West Lothian ancestors were laid to rest with over 87,000 transcripts spanning 115 years. West Lothian, located in the south of Scotland, was known as Linlithgowshire until 1921.

New Jersey Baptisms 1746-1795
Explore more than 600 baptisms from the Township of Hannover, located in Morris County, New Jersey.

New Jersey church records 1747-1794
Search church records from the Township of Hannover in Morris County. These records pertain to an active time in Hanover, with the resurgence of religious revivals kicking off around 1740. The most populous denominations in the latter half of the 1700s were Presbyterian, Society of Friends (Quaker), Dutch Reformed, Baptist, and Episcopal.

Britain, Knights of the Realm & Commonwealth index
Over 400 new records have been added to the Knights of the Realm & Commonwealth index. The Index is comprised of individual transcripts that list a recipient's name, birth year, death year (if applicable), the type of award they received and the date they received it.

PERSI quarterly index update
This week we've updated the Periodical Source Index (PERSI), adding 14,865 new articles, and uploaded 13,039 new images to seven different publications.

The seven publications to which we've added images are as follows:

North Carolina Historical Commission Biennial Report, 1907-1924, 1944-1962
Northern Genealogist, 1895-1903
Old Times-North Yarmouth Maine, 1877-1884
Olde Ulster, 1905-1914
Ossory Archaeological Society Transactions, 1879-1886
Palimpsest, 1920-1923
Vineland Historical Magazine, 1916-1921

For further details and links visit https://blog.findmypast.co.uk/findmypast-friday-2468875299.html.

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course commences Sept 11th 2017 - details at www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

RAF and London records join Ancestry

Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) has released three more major collections, two for London, and one for those with RAF members in their family.

UK, Royal Air Force Airmen Records, 1918-1940
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61400
Source: AIR 79 Royal Air Force Airmen Records, 1918-1940. The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey, England.

This collection comprises records of Airmen serving in the Royal Air Force during the years 1918 up to, and including, 1940.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) was founded in 1918, after the uniting of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). The records are arranged by service number and include the following details, where available:

• Name
• Date of Birth
• Age
• Place of Birth
• Date of Service
• Service Number
• Name of Mother
• Name of Father
• Name of Spouse

UPDATE: Sadly, you need a subscription to Fold3.com to view the images - I don't get the point of this. If it is not on Ancestry, why advertise that it is? Only the indexes are available on Ancestry. Disappointing.


London, England, School Admissions and Discharges, 1912-1918
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61572
Source: School Admission and Discharge Registers, London Metropolitan Archives, London, England.

This collection comprises School Admission and Discharges in London for the years 1912 to 1918. It contains details of just under 100,000 students from schools across London. In 1833, Parliament started to provide money for the construction of schools for poor children, although it was still largely a private affair. Mandatory schooling was a local decision until 1870, when children were required to attend from age 5 to 10. By 1918, education was required up to the age of 14.

These records are made up of lists of children who were admitted to and discharged from schools. When education was required, children could be discharged from their schooling if they were needed to work to help support the family. The records vary by school and some are more detailed than others. The records include (where available):

• Admission Date
• Name
• Parents’ names
• Parents’ occupation
• Address
• Birth date
• Age

London, England, Poor Law School District Registers, 1852-1918
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61452
Source: Poor Law School District Registers, London Metropolitan Archives, London, England.

This collection comprises admission and discharges for Poor Law school districts in London for the years 1852 to 1918. It contains details of more than 219,000 students from District schools across London. After 1834, the Poor Law Commission required each union to set up a properly constituted residential school for pauper children with a salaried schoolmaster or schoolmistress. Pauper children were to receive both a basic education and industrial training to make them fit for employment. The 1844 Poor Law Amendment Act and 1848 District Schools Act gave the Poor Law Commissioners powers to combine parishes and unions into school districts which would establish a large residential school outside London for the care and education of all pauper children from the areas concerned. Seven Poor Law School Districts were formed in the metropolitan area.

These records are made up of lists of children who were admitted to and discharged from schools. When education was required, children could be discharged from their schooling if they were needed to work to help support the family. The records vary by school and some are more detailed than others. The records include (where available):

• Admission Date
• Discharge Date
• Name
• Gender
• School
• Address
• Birth date
• Age

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course commences Sept 11th 2017 - details at https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102.
For details on my Scottish & Irish genealogy guide books, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.
For my genealogy research service, please visit http://www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk.

Ancestry adds poor law union removals from England to Ireland

Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) has released two new Irish collections, as indexed as part of its World Archives Project. The following are the descriptions:

Ireland, Poor Law Union Removals From England, 1859-1860
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61317

Following the Act of Settlement in 1662, parishes in the United Kingdom were obliged to help those who were ‘legally settled'. If they could not fulfil the required criteria, they could be removed by force and sent to their parish of legal settlement.

Removal Orders could be issued if the person or family were deemed to have no right to settlement in the parish. Removal Orders record the names of the poor persons involved, the parish from which they were removed and the parish to which they were to be removed. Removal Orders sometimes list all the children in the family and give their ages.

Amongst those who were affected by removal were thousands of Irish applicants in England. If, upon examination, it was found that they had no right of settlement, they could be deported from the nearest port back to Ireland, at the time part of the United Kingdom. Often, families were placed on boats to the port nearest their home parish, but they still may have had a journey of many miles after disembarking. They would have had to pay their own way as the English parish would only pay enough for them to get to Ireland, not for the entire journey back to their original home parish.


NB: I presume that these removal lists were originally sourced from the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (http://parlipapers.proquest.com/parlipapers) collection, which is freely accessible via subscribing libraries across the UK. It should be noted that there are many such lists from the 1860s and 1870s in the archive, not just from England, but from Scotland and Wales also. You will find additional lists freely available on the Raymond's County Down website at http://countydown.x10.mx/html/index2.htm, as follows:

• Return of all poor persons, removed from Scotland to Ireland 1867/1869
• Return of all poor persons removed from England & Wales to Ireland 1867/1869
• Return of poor persons, England & Wales since 1st Jan. 1875
• Return of poor from Scotland to Ireland, 1875/76/77/78

Ireland, School Masters and Mistresses, 1826
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61316

The Irish Education Inquiry published its second report in the year 1826, in Dublin, Ireland and aimed to provide a picture of the state of education in Ireland at the time. The stated goal of the commission was "To inquire into the nature and extent of the instruction afforded by the several institutions established for the purpose of education and maintained either in whole or in part from the public funds; to inquire also into the state of the diocesan and district Schools, and the Nature of the Instruction there given; for ascertaining whether any and what regulations may be fit to be established with respect to the Parochial Schools, and for reporting as to the Measures which can be adopted for extending generally to all classes of the People the benefits of Education." The report's findings were presented to the UK Parliament as Ireland was, as that time, part of the United Kingdom.

The report also included the names of Masters and Mistresses employed in schools at that time.

What can be found in the records?

For each Master or Mistress found within the report, you may be able to find (where available):

Their Name
The County in which they taught
The Parish in which they taught
The location of the school in which they were employed


Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course commences Sept 11th 2017 - details at https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102.
For details on my Scottish & Irish genealogy guide books, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.
For my genealogy research service, please visit http://www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk.

Recent English collections added to Ancestry

Some recent English records additions to Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk):

Bedfordshire, England, Electoral Registers, 1832-1986
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61264
Original data: Electoral rolls for Bedfordshire 1832-1986, Bedfordshire Archives, Bedford, Bedfordshire, England.

London, England, Metropolitan Police Pension Registers, 1852-1932http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61310
Original data: Metropolitan Police Pension Registers MEPO 21. The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey, England.

Dorset, England, Poor Law Settlement and Removal Records, 1682-1862
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=60673
Original data: Dorset Poor Law Records, Dorset History Centre, Dorchester, Dorset, England.

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Beginner's Guide to British and Irish Genealogy, A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Dorset records and UK medical directories join Ancestry

Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) has added the following collection for Dorset, England:

Dorset, England, Poor Law Apprenticeship Records, 1623-1898
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61226

Several medically related directories are also now available on the site, as sourced from the Wellcome Library:

UK & Ireland, Medical Directories, 1845-1942
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61053

UK, Dentist Registers, 1879-1942
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61101

UK, The Midwives Roll, 1904-1959
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61102

UK, Medical and Dental Students Registers, 1882-1937
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61100

UK, Roll of the Indian Medical Service, 1615 -1930
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61103


Recently updated English and Welsh collections include:

• Radnorshire, Wales, Marriages, 1813-1838
• Warwickshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1910
• Warwickshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1910
• Warwickshire, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1910
• Dorset, England, Poor Law Apprenticeship Records, 1623-1898
• Warwickshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1535-1812

Details are available via http://www.ancestry.co.uk/cs/recent-collections

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Beginner's Guide to British and Irish Genealogy, A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Kent records added to Ancestry

Two new collections for Kent have been added recently to Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk):

Bexley, Kent, England, Electoral Registers, 1734-1965
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61151
Original data: Bexley Electoral Registers. Bexley Local Studies & Archive Centre, Bexleyheath, Kent, England.

Medway, Kent, England, Poor Law Union Records, 1836-1937
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=60655
Original data: Poor Law Union Records. Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre, Chatham, Kent, England.

Further details are available via the links.

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Stirlingshire poor law record indexes online

Stirling Archives has uploaded a series of PDF file based indexes for the poor relief records from fourteen periods within the Stirling Council area. Each file carries a fairly detailed entry for each application, with a typical entry noing name, age, residence, marital status, occupation and if entry to a poorhouse, the date of entry. The full list of files are availabe at http://www.stirlingarchives.scot/poor-relief-indexes/.

The parishes covered are as follows (with appropriate accession numbers for the original registers):

Aberfoyle
Aberfoyle Parochial Board Minutes 1877-1894 (PR/AB/1/1)

Balfron
Balfron General Register of Poor 1865-1894 (PR/BA/5/1)
Balfron General Register of Poor 1895-1929 (PR/BA/5/2)
Balfron Record of Applications 1913-1915 (PR/BA/4/1)
Balfron Record of Applications 1915-1924 (PR/BA/4/2)
Balfron Record of Applications 1924-1930 (PR/BA/4/3)

Balquhidder
Balquhidder General Register of the Poor 1889-1929 (PR/BQ/4/1)

Buchanan
Buchanan Parish Council General Register 1883-1926 (PR/BU/2/1)
Buchanan Parish Council Minutes 1906-1924 (PR/BU/1/1)
Buchanan Parish Council Minutes 1925-1930 (PR/BU/1/2)

Callander
Callander Register of Poor Persons Admitted on Roll 1814-1864 (PR/CA/4/2)
Callander Register of Poor Persons on the Roll of the Parish 1846-1854 (PR/CA/4/1)
Callander Register of the Poor 1826-1895 (PR/CA/5/1)
Callander General Register of the Poor 1870-1929 (PR/CA/5/2)
Callander Applications for Poor Relief 1855-1871 (PR/CA/3/1)
Callander Record of Applicants 1877-1886 (PR/CA/3/2)

Drymen
Drymen Parish Council Minute Book 1915-1935 (PR/DR/1/3)

Fintry
Fintry Register of Poor Persons 1835-1868 (PR/FI/3/1)
Fintry Parochial Board Register of the Poor 1865-1898 (PR/FI/4/1)
Fintry General Register of the Poor 1876-1926 (PR/FI/4/2)
Fintry Record of Applications 1925-1930 (PR/FI/3/2)

Gargunnock
Gargunnock Minutes of the Parochial Board 1840-1871 (PR/GA/1/1)
Gargunnock Minute Book of the Parochial Board 1871-1895 (PR/GA/1/2)
Gargunnock Register of the Poor 1805-1864 (PR/GA/3/1)
Gargunnock Register of the Poor 1845-1892 (PR/GA/3/2)
Gargunnock Register of the Poor 1893-1906 (PR/GA/3/3)
Gargunnock Poor Relief - Children's Register 1862 (PR/GA/4/1)
Gargunnock Poor Relief Applications 1855-1879 (PR/GA/2/1)
Gargunnock Poor Relief Applications 1879-1887 (PR/GA/2/2)
Gargunnock Poor Relief Applications 1888-1898 (PR/GA/2/3)
Gargunnock Poor Relief Applications 1898-1914 (PR/GA/2/4)
Gargunnock Poor Relief Applications 1915-1929 (PR/GA/2/5)

Killearn
Killearn Record of Applications 1894-1922 (PR/KI/3/1)

Kippen
Kippen General Register of Poor 1845-1868 (PR/KN/5/1)
Kippen General Register of Poor 1845-1922 (PR/KN/5/2)
Kippen General Register of Poor 1923-1929 (PR/KN/5/3)

Kippen Applications for Relief 1878-1894 (PR/KN/4/1)
Kippen Applications for Relief 1895-1903 (PR/KN/4/2)
Kippen Register of Applications 1903-1907 (PR-KN-4-3)
Kippen Record of Applications for Parochial Relief 1907-1919 (PR/KN/4/4)
Kippen Applications for Poor Relief 1919-1926 (PR/KN/4/5)
Kippen Applications for Poor Relief 1926-1929 (PR/KN/4/6)
Kippen Record of Applications for Parochial Relief 1929-1930 (PR/KN/4/7)

Logie
Logie Parish Council Minute Book 1895-1906 (PR/LO/1/3)
Logie Parish Council Minutes 1906-1918 (PR/LO/1/4)

St. Ninians
St Ninians Minute Book of the Parochial Board 1845-1856 (PR/SN/1/1)
St Ninians Poor Relief Applications 1887-1927 (PR/SN/3/2)
St Ninians Register of Poor 1927 (PR/SN/3/3)

Stirling
Stirling General Register of the Poor 1861 -1878 (PR/SG/2/2)
Stirling General Register Book 1865-70 (PR/SG/2/1)
Stirling General Register of the Poor 1878 - 1884 (PR/SG/2/3)
Stirling General Register of the Poor 1884-1891 (PR/SG/2/4)
Stirling Burgh General Register of the Poor 1891-1899 (PR/SG/2/5)

Strathblane
Strathblane General Register of the Poor 1839-1910 (PR/ST/3/1)
Strathblane Record of Applications for Parochial Relief 1888-1917 (PR/ST/2/2)

(With thanks to @StirlingLibs)

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Free lunchtime talks at National Library of Ireland

The following free luchtime talks will be given at the Dublin based National Library of Ireland (www.nli.ie) from July 26th 2016:

Sinead McCoole
Mná - 25 years of searching - lessons & leads
Date: July 26th Time: 1.00pm

Dermot Bolger
A reading from his new novel - The Lonely Sea and Sky, followed by a talk.
Date: July 28th Time 1.00pm

Paul McCotter
Territory, maps and genealogy
Date: August 2nd Time: 1.00pm

Fiona Fitzsimons
Explorations in Irish genealogy.
Date: August 4th Time: 1.00pm

Liam Breen / Cormac Leonard (interpreter)
Deaf history in Cabra
Date: August 9th Time: 1.00pm

Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill
"The selkie’s skin" : How Irish oral traditions preserve family and local history
Date: August 11th Time: 1:00PM

Eleanor Fitzsimons
Wilde’s women: How Oscar Widle was shaped by the women in his life.
Date: August 16th Time: 1.00PM

Damien Shiels
The Forgotten Irish: Revealing the voices of Irish 19th Century Emigrants
Date: August 18th Time: 1.00PM

Ambassador O’Malley
Irish American identity: How do we sustain the people to people links between Ireland and the United States?
Date: August 23rd Time: 1.00PM

Aoife O’ Connor
Seen ? Heard ? Records of children in Nineteenth Century Ireland
Date: August 25th Time: 1.00PM

Clodagh Tait
"The Simple annals of my parish poor": stories from parish registers
Date: August 30th Time: 1.00PM

Nora White
Ogham Stones: Our earliest genealogical sources
Date: September 1st Time: 1.00PM

Joe Buggy
Ten free websites for U.S. genealogy research.
Date: Sept 6th Time: 1.00PM

Dan Bradley
Adventures in ancient DNA: Who were the first Irish?
Date: September 8th Time: 1:00pm

(With thanks to the Irish Family History Centre at https://www.irishfamilyhistorycentre.com/article/free-lunch-time-talks-in-the-national-library-of-ireland-2016)

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

More Irish Petty Session and poor law records added to FindmyPast

FindmyPast has announced its has added 547,000 more records to its Irish Petty Sessions Court Registers 1828-1912 collection. A list of what is new can be accessed at http://www.findmypast.co.uk/articles/irish-petty-sessions-order-books.

Also released are:

Ireland Poor Law Reports

There are six titles included in this collection of poor law reports:

* Parliamentary Report (Distress Ireland), Treasury Minute and First Report of the Relief Commissioners, published by William Clowes and Sons in 1847 – This publication is the first report of the new relief system put in place to handle the calamitous impact of famine on the Irish people. The report details many issues facing Ireland at this time. In particular, the growing number of destitute and how to alleviate their burden, as well as details pertaining to the new relief scheme and how it differs from previous attempts. Appendixes include additional useful information, including further details regarding the new relief scheme and sample forms used by the Finance Committees and Relief Committees.

* The Evils of the State of Ireland; Their Causes and Their Remedy – A Poor Law, authored by John Revans and published by John Harchard and Son in 1837 – The ideas that Revans puts forth in this publication were ultimately deemed too radical for adoption (such as fair rents and minimum living wages), but they represent the argument for equitable poor law relief in Ireland at this time.

* 7th Annual Report of the Commissioners for Administering the Law for Relief of the Poor in Ireland, 1854, published by Alexander Thom & Sons in 1854 – The bulk of the report is its appendixes: Appendix A, Circulars of Instruction Issued by the Commissioners and Correspondence to and form the Commissioners, and Appendix B, Tables.

* 10th Annual Report of the Commissioners for Administering the Laws for Relief of the Poor in Ireland, 1857, published by Alexander Thom & Sons in 1857 – The bulk of the report is its appendixes: Appendix A, Circulars of Instruction Issued by the Commissioners and Correspondence to and form the Commissioners, and Appendix B, Tables.

* 11th Annual Report of the Commissioners for Administering the Law for Relief of the Poor in Ireland, 1858, published by Alexander Thom & Sons in 1858 – The bulk of the report is its appendixes: Appendix A, Circulars of Instruction Issued by the Commissioners and Correspondence to and form the Commissioners, and Appendix B, Tables. A subject of note is the information relating to the removal of the poor to Ireland from England and Scotland.

* 14th Annual Report of the Commissioners for Administering the Laws for Relief of the Poor in Ireland, 1861, published by Alexander Thom & Sons in 1861— The bulk of the report is its appendixes, particularly, Appendix A, Circulars of Instruction Issued by the Commissioners and Correspondence to and form the Commissioners, and Appendix B, Tables. Of note, the report details the upset facing the Erris district following the failure of the oat and potato crops.


South Australia Rate Books

South Australia Rate books is an index of roughly 4,000 records. The index was transcribed from rate assessments for the coastal district of Beachport in southeast South Australia between 1882 and 1888.

Each record includes a transcript and an original image. The amount of information listed varies, but the transcripts usually include your ancestor's name, assessment year, assessment number, occupier, owner, situation and town

Images may be able to provide additional details, such as property descriptions, rate values, and dates paid. Entries span two pages in the original document; you can use the right-hand arrow in the image viewer to view the second image associated with your ancestor's entry. You can also use the previous and next arrows to peruse other entries.


Ireland Dog Licence Registers

Updated to now include more than 343,000 additional records to uncover the age, colour, and breed of your ancestors four legged friend.


Yorkshire West Riding Marriages

Over 49,000 new records from Yorkshire's West Riding have been added to our collection of Yorkshire Marriages.


Full details via https://blog.findmypast.co.uk/fridays

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Two new Yorkshire collections on Ancestry

Two more Yorkshire collections on Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk):

West Yorkshire, England, Select Removal and Settlement Records, 1689-1866
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=9015

This database contains West Yorkshire Poor Law records relating to settlement and removals of indigent residents.

Source: West Yorkshire, England, Removal and Settlement, 1627–1912. Digitized registers and loose papers. West Yorkshire Archive Service, Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England.


Leeds, England, Beckett Street Cemetery, 1845-1987
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=8999

Source: Beckett Street Cemetery Records. Digitized registers. West Yorkshire Archive Service, Leeds, England.

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

New Yorkshire records available on Ancestry

Two new collections from Yorkshire are now available on Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk):

West Yorkshire, England, Select Removal and Settlement Records, 1689-1866
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=9015

This collection contains burial registers for the years 1845-1987 and inscription grave registers for the years 1907-1938 from the Beckett Street Cemetery in West Yorkshire, England

Source: West Yorkshire, England, Removal and Settlement, 1627–1912. Digitized registers and loose papers. West Yorkshire Archive Service, Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England.


Leeds, England, Beckett Street Cemetery, 1845-1987
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=8999

This collection contains burial registers for the years 1845-1987 and inscription grave registers for the years 1907-1938 from the Beckett Street Cemetery in West Yorkshire, England

Source: Beckett Street Cemetery Records. Digitized registers. West Yorkshire Archive Service, Leeds, England.

Further details are available via the links.

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Sligo and Clare workhouse records and Australian convict records now on FindmyPast

FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) has released two new workhouse records collections for Ireland. These are as follows:

Containing of over 9,000 records, the Sligo workhouse registers 1848-1859 consist of handwritten registers taken at the Sligo Union workhouse, one of three workhouses in the County Sligo. The records pre-date civil registration and will be a valuable resource to those with Sligo ancestors given the lack of 19th century census material available in Ireland. Each record includes a transcript and an image of the original document. The registers list the names of new arrivals and details including their age, occupation, religion, any illnesses or infirmities, family members, local parish, their condition on arrival (usually describing clothes or cleanliness) and when they were discharged or died.

Containing over 63,000 records, the Clare Poor Law Unions Board of Guardians Minute Books cover the Kilrush and Ennistymon unions, two of eight poor law unions located in County Clare. The Board of Guardians oversaw the running of the poor law unions as well as the hiring of teachers, staff and contractors. Guardians were elected by those who paid the taxes that funded poor law relief. The books recorded weekly reports on the number of inmates, new arrivals, births, deaths and discharges. They also recorded expenditures including food supplies and salaries as well as the number of inmates receiving medical treatments. Each record contains a transcript and an image of the original handwritten minutes.

Also released are some Australian convicts collections, and some English parish records:

• Nearly 27,000 Australia Convict Conditional and Absolute Pardons 1791-1867.
• New South Wales Registers of Convicts’ Applications to Marry 1825-1851 contains over 26,000 records.
• Over 188,000 Australia Convict ships 1786-1849 records
• Over 7,000 records from Victoria Prison Registers 1855-1948, for prisoners who passed through Pentridge prison, Coburg, Victoria.
• Over 4,000 parish records for Southfleet, Kent.

Full details at http://blog.findmypast.co.uk/fridays/

(With thanks to Alex Cox)

Chris

The latest British GENES podcast is available at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/podcasts.html. For details on my latest book Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, and my other genealogy guide books, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Dublin workhouse records exclusive to FindmyPast for 5 years

From FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk):

Newly digitalised records reveal that even highly trained professionals were forced into workhouses by the misery of the Irish famine

· 2.5 million historical records reveal the hardship of Ireland’s poorest people, now available online for the first time

· With a dearth of census records available, tracing Irish ancestors is notoriously difficult. These new records include details of those who are hardest to trace, and uncover the tough times they lived through

· Records include tragic tales of poverty, forced migration of young female orphans to Australia, and the fates of lawyers and doctors sent to institutions for the poor

London, UK, 18 May 2015 – Leading family history website Findmypast has today released over 2.5 million Dublin Workhouse Admission & Discharge Registers and Minute Books. The records provide a unique view of the impact the famine had on all aspects of the Irish population, as hundreds of thousands of middle-class Dubliners – alongside the impoverished working classes - were institutionalised in the workhouses between 1840 and 1919.

These records will be the first in a series of Irish Workhouse records released by Findmypast in partnership with the National Archives of Ireland – the first step in the creation of a national resource of all the Irish workhouse and Poor Law Union records, which will be exclusively available on Findmypast.

During the famine, millions of people had reason to use the workhouses and other services supplied by the Poor Law Unions. These records have never before been indexed let alone made available online, and, given the lack of 19th century census material in Ireland, on completion these records will be an incredibly valuable census substitute.

Those professionals institutionalised in the Dublin Workhouses include:

· 1,130 doctors and nurses
· 1,056 teachers
· 321 soldiers
· 321 soldiers
· 175 solicitors and lawyers
· 125 artists
· 32 clergymen
· 24 policemen

Individual notable figures in the records include:

· 35 year old author, George Fitzgibbon Lysaght entered the North Dublin Union Workhouse in 1853. Before falling on hard times, George was a wealthy land owner in County Clare. The property was auctioned off on May 6th 1858. The house division on his estate alone was 133 acres with a yearly rent valued at £110 and ten shillings

· Soldier, Edward Byrne, entered the South Union Workhouse in 1850, aged 26. He was described as being in good health despite having a “ragged look”

· Gerald Keogh, a 75 year old widowed physician, entered the North Dublin Union workhouse in 1848. He was described as being of “delicate” health. He died the following year

· In 1853, solicitor, Stephen Cullen and his wife, Julia Anna Maria Cullen, entered the North Dublin Union. Stephen was a 73 year old from Scotland who was suffering from a “chest affliction” when he entered the workhouse

Those from poorer backgrounds include:

· Prostitutes, including Julia Goodwin, 40 years old, who entered the Rathdown Union workhouse in 1843. She was listed as Rheumatic and the cause of her admission was listed as ‘misconduct’

· 81 year old Mary Cohen, one of the oldest to be recorded. She entered the North Dublin Union in July 1846, “ragged and dirty”. She was dead by November

· Eliza Abbey, a 3 month old baby found by a policeman on 31st March 1867 on Abbey Street and handed over to a nurse 2 days later

· Jane and Thomas Tierny, siblings aged 7 and 6 who were delivered at the workhouse in 1867. They had been deserted by their parents who had gone to America, which was not a particularly unusual situation

Board of Guardians Minute Books

This collection of almost 900,000 records cover meetings held by the Board of Guardians of four Dublin workhouses from 1839 – 1922. They contain the minutes of meetings, including supplies, hiring of staff, case histories of individual paupers and letters received by the Board, among other details, providing rich contextual detail of daily life in the workhouse.

Dublin workhouses Admission and Discharge Registers 1840 – 1919

Over 1,500,000 records detailing arrivals at the workhouse with details of occupants’ age, occupation, religion, any illnesses or infirmities, other family members, original parish and condition when they arrived including clothes and cleanliness.

Brian Donovan, Irish Records Expert at Findmypast said “Workhouse records are an essential tool for family history research. They provide extraordinary detail and incredible heart-wrenching stories about some of the most poorly documented people who lived in Ireland.”

Levels of poverty in Ireland were far higher than in England so the workhouse was often an inescapable part of life. As many, if not most, Dublin families would have had some experience of the workhouses, this record set is one of the most significant available for those researching Dublin history.

The Dublin workhouse records are the first Irish workhouse records to go online as part of this project. Findmypast is working with the National Archives of Ireland to bring workhouse records online from every county in Ireland.

These records will be exclusive to Findmypast for 5 years.

Chris

For details on my latest book Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, and my other genealogy guide books please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. To commission me for genealogical research, please visit my research site at www.scotlandsgreateststory.co.uk.