Irish convict records talk at National Archives of Ireland

From the National Archives of Ireland (www.nationalarchives.ie) in Dublin:

Our evening lecture series for 2019 will begin with ‘Banished Beyond the Seas: NAI records of convict transportation to Australia, 1788-1868’, a talk to be given by Joan Kavanagh in our Reading Room on Thursday 31 January at 6pm.

All lectures are free, no booking is required and all are welcome to attend!

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.

The Scold's Bridle

I've just read the astonishing fact that the use of a Scold's Bridle was not outlawed in Britain until 1967.

The Scold's Bridle was a punishment device, an iron mask made to be worn, usually, by women accused of being gossips, or of having committed some other transgressive behaviour - its intention was to both humilate and punish at the same time.

There's a fascinating short article about the Scold's Bridle in Dundee’s Albert Museum at https://www.scottishlegal.com/article/our-legal-heritage-the-branks-or-scold-s-bridle.

For more on the Scold's Bridle, see the following YouTube video from the Wellcome Collection:

Also available at https://youtu.be/T7lGsWO5R10

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.

FindmyPast updates National Burial Index for England and Wales

The following records have been added to FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk):

National Burial Index for England & Wales
Over 717,000 new records have been added to the National Burial Index. The new additions cover 288 burial places in the historic counties of Co. Durham, Northumberland and Cumberland as well as 656 burials sites across Lincolnshire. Each transcript will list a combination of your ancestor's name, age, death year, burial place, burial date and place of worship.

England Roman Catholic Parish Baptisms
Over 65,000 exclusive new records covering the Diocese of Middlesbrough have been added to our collection of England Roman Catholic Parish Baptisms. The new additions cover 36 parishes across the county, span the years 1742 to 1917 and are the latest newly digitised records to join the collection which now covers the Dioceses of Westminster, Birmingham and Middlesbrough.

England Roman Catholic Parish Marriages
Over 19,000 exclusive new Diocese of Middlesbrough Sacramental Register entries have been added to our collection of England Roman Catholic Parish Marriages. The new additions cover marriages preformed across 28 parishes between 1796 and 1944.

England Roman Catholic Parish Burials
Over 7,000 new and exclusive records held by the Diocese of Middlesbrough have been added to our collection of England Roman Catholic Parish Burials. The new additions cover burial sites in 22 parishes between 1774 and 1974.

England Roman Catholic Parish Congregational records
Over 47,000 records from the Diocese of Middlesbrough have also been added to our collection of English Catholic Parish Congregational Records. Covering 30 parishes and spanning the years 1743 to 1920, these records will enable you to learn more about your ancestor's relationship with their local parish.

United States General Land Office Records 1796-2013
Did your ancestors buy Public Domain land? Search this vast collection of over six million records for land sale documents (patents) and discover the original title and exact parcel of land purchased by your ancestor from the U.S. Federal Government. Each entry includes a transcript and an image of the original document.

Middlesex Baptisms 1543-1876
Over 10,000 baptism records covering the parish of All Saints in Iselworth between 1566 and 1783 have been added to the collection.

British & Irish Newspaper Update
This week we have added 108,256 pages to the Archive. We have added two brand new titles – the Gorey Guardian, published in Wexford, and the Bray People, published in Wicklow. Both these titles cover the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. We have also added new pages to the New Ross Standard and to the Lichfield Mercury.

Further details and links at https://blog.findmypast.co.uk/findmypast-friday-january-18th-2019-2626272312.html.

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.

PRONI YouTube additions - 1994 files and the 1918 vote

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni) has added a new video to its YouTube channel.

Secrets from the files 1994
Dr Eamon Phoenix and Sam McBride reveal the secrets behind the news headlines from the recently released government files of 1994 at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. This event took place on Tuesday 8th January 2019.

The video is available at https://youtu.be/M--VekANFaw, and presented below.

Also recently added:

PRONI - 1918 and the Vote
To mark the centenary of the 1918 General Election, PRONI is held a conference on 22 November 2018. This event saw the launch of new PRONI resources about Suffrage and the 1918 election.

The video is available at https://youtu.be/tR7_sDsTVD0 and presneted here also:

For more from PRONI on YouTube visit https://www.youtube.com/user/PRONIonline.

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.

Green cards may be needed for post-Brexit UK-Ireland car travel

I don't propose to get into a running commentary on this blog about the current Brexit shenanigans in London just now - but I will point out relevant potential issues that may affect genealogists as a consequence of what is tragically beginning to look like a no-deal exit by the UK from the EU on March 29th.

The first of these may be of interest to anyone intending to travel from Britain or Northern Ireland to Dublin for Back to Our Past (http://backtoourpast.ie) later this year from October 19th-21st, or for anyone from the Republic wishing to travel to Britain for any of the large family history events taking place in England after March 29th.

If the UK leaves without agreeing a deal, the UK's Association of British Insurers (www.abi.org.uk) has advised that you will need to apply for a green card from your insurance company to travel with your car from the UK into the EU, and from the EU into the UK. Sadly, this also applies to travel between the UK and the Republic of Ireland, even though the Common Travel Area is to be maintained. You will most likely continue to be insured by your company (though do check), but you will need the green card to demonstrate this. The ABI's advice is available online at https://www.abi.org.uk/news/news-articles/2019/01/dont-forget-your-green-card---british-insurers-issue-advice-to-customers-on-no-deal-brexit/ and it advises that you will need to apply a month before you travel.

One saving grace, for now at least, for those travelling from the UK into the Republic of Ireland is that you will not need to apply for an international driving permit (IDP) to visit - I am as yet unclear if this is also true for travelling from Ireland to the UK. An IDP will be a necessity, however, if travelling from Britain to the European continent. In the UK, these will be made available at Post Offices from the start of February.

Further information from the UK's government is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prepare-to-drive-in-the-eu-after-brexit/requirements-for-all-uk-citizens-driving-abroad-from-29-march-2019.

The Irish Times has the story across the water at https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/irish-motorists-will-need-green-cards-to-drive-in-uk-under-brexit-1.3760534. This notes that in Ireland "Insurers and insurance brokers in the Republic will begin issuing green cards to policyholders from March ahead of March 29th, the scheduled date for the UK to leave the EU."

Further coverage is available on the BBC at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46891186.

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.

Forthcoming events at PRONI in Belfast

Forthcoming events at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni):

PRONI Workshop - Getting Started
Fri, Jan 25, 11:00am
Free

PRONI Workshop – Online Family and Local History Resources
Thu, Jan 31, 6:00pm
Free

Women in the Archives Information Evening
Thu, Jan 17, 7:00pm
Free

Whatever the Weather!
Tue, Mar 26, 1:00pm
Free

Wreck and rescue talk series
Wed, Feb 27, 1:00pm
Free

The development of physical education in Northern Ireland, 1922-1954
Thu, Mar 7, 1:00pm
Free

Buried in Belfast - Women in the Archives
Wed, Jan 23, 9:30am
Free

Soft power and subterfuge: the women of Tyrone's Rebellion, 1593-1603
Thu, Feb 21, 7:00pm
Free

J.C. Beckett Annual Memorial Lecture
Thu, Jun 6, 7:00pm
Free

Bad Bridget - Women and Crime, Past and Present
Fri, Jan 25, 10:00am
Free

For further details, and to book, visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--belfast/proni/

(With thanks to the PRONI Express)

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.

North Staffordshire mining heritage to go online

The Chatterley Whitfield Friends group (http://chatterleywhitfieldfriends.org.uk) has won a £10,000 grant from Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s community investment fund to digitise thousands of photos, maps, artefacts and other documents which were abandoned following the collapse of Chatterley Whitfield Mining Museum in 1993.

As part of the project, volunteers from the group are also planning to film interviews with former miners to create an oral history. The last mine to close in the area was Silverdale in 1998.

For more on the story, visit the Stoke Sentinel story at www.stokesentinel.co.uk/treasure-trove-north-staffordshires-mining-2416769.

Chris

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 content is published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Free MyHeritage webinar - Newspapers for Family Research

MyHeritage (www.myheritage.com) has a free webinar hosted online:

Webinar Playback: Newspapers for Family Research

Newspapers often include obituaries, birth, marriage, and death announcements, and plenty of other useful information. They can be a real treasure trove for anyone looking to learn more about their ancestors. In this compelling and highly-praised webinar hosted by Legacy Family Tree Webinars, MyHeritage expert genealogist Daniel Horowitz explains how to best search newspapers and describes the specialized MyHeritage newspaper matching technology. Daniel includes lots of tips of sources outside of MyHeritage as well. Don't miss this webinar.

To access the webinar visit https://familytreewebinars.com/download.php?webinar_id=714

Chris

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 content is published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Dukes of Grafton papers accepted by UK Government in lieu of tax

From the National Archives in England (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/allocation-of-papers-accepted-in-lieu-of-tax-2/):

Part of the archive of the Northamptonshire estates of the Dukes of Grafton has been accepted in lieu of tax by the government.

Notable material includes accounts, correspondence, deeds, estate maps, architectural drawings, and manorial records from the 17th to the 20th centuries.

Any library, record office or institution in the United Kingdom interested in acquiring the papers should contact Philip Gale, Head of Standards and Improvement, Archives Sector Development, The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU (email asd@nationalarchives.gov.uk) for further particulars in the first instance.

Applications for allocation of this material must be received in writing at the same address by Friday, 22 February 2019.

COMMENT: For what it's worth, my self-employed tax return is due end of this month. If HMRC wants a copy of my family history as part payment, by all means, do drop me a note, happy to discuss! :)

Chris

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.

Scottish Research Online course starts March 11th

My next Scottish Research Online course starts on March 11th 2019, running for 5 weeks - here's the description!

Scottish Research Online (102)
Tutor: Chris Paton

Scotland was first to have major records digitized and offer indexes and images online. It has also been a leader in placing resource information on the World Wide Web. This course describes the major sites, the types of information and data that they offer, the forms in which databases are presented and how to analyze results. You will learn to lay the foundations for searching a family, how to select best resources and what to do next either online or in libraries and archives.
Lesson Headings:

• Scotlands People, Family Search, Ancestry, FreeCen: content, comparison, assessment
• Essential Maps and Gazetteers
• Civil Registration and Census Research Online
• Searching in Church of Scotland Registers Online
• Scottish Wills and Inventories Online
• Take It From Here

Note: it is recommended but not required that students in this course sign up for the basic search option, 30 units/seven days, at ScotlandsPeople (cost is seven pounds).

Each lesson includes exercises and activities; a minimum of 1 one-hour chat s See How the Courses Work.

STUDENTS SAID: "I particularly liked the fact that the course didn't just focus on the well-known BMD resources available, but on a much wider range of websites, including many which give extremely useful background information on the geography and history of the localities where our ancestors lived."

"a very knowledgeable Instructor"

Relevant Countries: Scotland

This course is offered twice annually.

Course Length: 5 Weeks
Start Date: 11 Mar 2019
Cost: £49.99

And for a wee video introduction, visit https://youtu.be/ssdYLlGtoHw or watch below!

To sign up to the course, please visit https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102

Note that the follow up course to this, Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs starts on May 13th - for further details on this, please visit https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302

Hopefully see you there!

Chris

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.