Support your local bookshop

Sally Hughes, who works at the bookshop of the National Archives at Kew (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk) has an interesting blog post on the archive's site outlining why you should support your local bookshop, and not just for this week's Independent Booksellers Week. It is an interesting piece, very much on the merits of bookshops versus online selling, with lots of valid points. It's well worth a read at http://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/a-view-from-the-counter/

Chris

Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)

Broadsheet - July 2012 now available

The sixteenth issue of Broadsheet is now freely at www.scoarch.org.uk/notice-board/broadsheet.

Published by the Scottish Council on Archives, the latest issue contains articles on the creation of a seal to authenticate the creation of Perth as a city; an interview with Laura Mitchell, the new deputy Keeper of the Records of Scotland; the new National Plan for Learning 2012-2015; the Blueprint Project in Glasgow; the Lesbian Archive at the Glasgow Women's Library; a piece on Marden History Group in Kent winning the national award for Community Archives; and more.

A good read - and completely free to download in PDF format!

Chris

Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)

Devon Record Office closure in September

With thanks to Renée Jackaman and Wendy Archer for the following:

Devon Record Office (www.devon.gov.uk./record_office.htm) will be closed for the week commencing 10th September 2012 whilst the searchroom is refurbished in preparation for the transfer of the Westcountry Studies Library reading room stock to the Record Office searchroom. This is the first stage in the creation of a new Devon Heritage Service which is intended to be formally launched in October 2012.

Chris

Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)

More Plymouth and Devon parish records online

More records are available for Devon and Plymouth records on FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk):

• Baptisms 5,275 (1900-1999) Brentor, St Simon and Buckland Monachorum
• Burials 1,111 (1626-1927) Looe Street, Venners,Vintry, Shewell Congregational Church

For more details visit www.findmypast.co.uk/content/news/plymouth-july12

(With thanks to @findmypast)

Chris

Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)

Cheshire Heraldry Society talks

Cheshire Heraldry Society has published its talks itinerary for the next 212-13 session on its blog at http://cheshire-heraldry.org.uk/weblog/:

Sept 22nd 2012  Elias Ashmole, Windsor Herald 1660-1692, by Dr. Adrian Ailes
Oct 20th 2012   The heraldic glass at Charlecote - Chris Purvis
Nov 17th 2012   Goss China - Nigel Griffin
Jan 19th 2013   Aspects of Medical Heraldry - Alan Fennely.
Feb 16th 2013   Architectural Heraldry - Prof. James D Floyd
Mch 16th 2013   Trade Guilds of Scotland - Leslie Hodgson
Apr 20th 2013   Annual General Meeting

Chris

Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)

Brompton in Kent history website

I've been asked to give a mention to a new website called Brompton - Civilian Life in a Military Village, located at www.bromptonhistory.org.uk. The site has a range of resources concerning the history of the Kent based village and the military forces connected to it, particularly the Royal Engineers - enjoy!

Chris

Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)

BBC Radio Scotland interview

The BBC's Radio Scotland (92-95FM) is running a piece on the Mount Stewart Murder tomorrow, the story of the murder of my three times great grandmother in 1866 in Perthshire, and the subject of my latest book. I've been told the piece will air approximately between 7am and 7.15am, though as always with news that could well slip.

I had the slightly surreal experience of visiting the BBC's Pacific Quay building on Monday to be interviewed for the feature, though it was great to catch up with a few old colleagues!  Listen out also for Jan Merchant, archivist at Perth and Kinross Archives (@PKCArchives), who discusses some of the materials held at the facility which helped with my research into the story. (Thanks Jan!)

Incidentally, I've just discovered that the book is now also available in a Kindle edition on Amazon for just £4.28...! For details on this, the paperback or the iBooks editions, please visit www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx

UPDATE: The interview is now online (UK only) at www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/b01k6c30 - it appears at 1 hour, 17 mins & 30 secs in, and will be there for the next 7 days. There's an accompanying article at www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-18721312 - enjoy!

Chris

Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)

BBC Digging Up Your Roots appeal

From Laura Seawright at BBC Scotland in Aberdeen:

Digging Up Your Roots - Series 8
Transmission Dates: January 6th – February 24th 2013

The popular genealogy programme ‘Digging up Your Roots’ is set to return to BBC Radio Scotland for a brand new series in the New Year.

Programming begins early January 2013 and we are keen to hear from listeners who are also trying to delve into the past. If you have a family mystery you want solved or have a burning question about the life of an ancestor then let our team of Genealogists help!

Tune in every Sunday at mid day starting from the 6th of January and you can also download the entire programme as a pod cast. Simply log on to bbc.co.uk/radioscotland and follow the links to ‘Digging up Your Roots’

If you want to get in touch you can write to:
Digging Up your roots, BBC Scotland, Beechgrove Terrace, Aberdeen, AB15 5ZT or email us at diggingupyourroots@bbc.co.uk


Chris

Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)

Happy birthday civil registration

Audrey Collins from the National Archives at Kew has an interesting blogpost on her Family Recorder blog commemorating something that no-one else has picked up on - the 175th anniversary of civil registration in England and Wales, which commenced in July 1837. It's a great post with lots of "ooh, I didn't know that" moments, well worth a read at http://thefamilyrecorder.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/happy-birthday-civil-registration-in.html

Incidentally, I am currently reading a magic book on civil registration in Scotland, which started in 1855 - published in 1907, it's called Vital Registration: a Manual of the Law and Practice Concerning the Registration of Births, Deaths, and Marriages: Registration Acts for Scotland with Relative Notes on Vaccination and the Census, Forms, and Tables of Fees, &c. by G. T. Bisset-Smith. In terms of usefulness, it's right up there with Herber's Ancestral Trails for England and Wales, Grenham's Tracing Your Irish Ancestors for Ireland and Steel's Sources for Scottish Genealogy and Family History for Scotland. It's a real gem of a book, as it is the manual that the registrars themselves had to digest - haven't been able to put it down, learning all sorts!

Chris

Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)

TNA podcast - Edwardian rollerskating

The latest podcast from the National Archives at Kew (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk) takes a look at the Edwardian craze of rollerskating, and the companies who set up rinks between 1908 and 1912.

The talk from Sean Creighton is available at http://media.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php/edwardian-rollerskating/ or via download from iTunes.

Chris

Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)