Worthing Library

Saturday 13 May 2017

10.00am—4.00pm

An exciting day where you can meet the experts from Sussex Family History Group, West Sussex  Record Office, Guild of One Name Studies, Canadian Roots, Times Digital Archive, Who Was Who and others.

There will also be illustrated talks on researching your Military Ancestors as well as how the Library Service can help you with your family history research. Tickets cost £3 and are available from the library.

Information Librarians and archivists will be available to provide free advice on research and help you explore Ancestry, findmypast and other online sources.

Why not attend our Family themed storytime at 11am, then follow our leafy trail and find out about your family history with our quick quiz?

Tea/coffee will be available to purchase on the day

For more information see our What’s On in Libraries page. 

As a nation of animal lovers it is not too surprising to find that at least two families recorded their dogs on their household schedule for the 1911 census.

One of these dogs was named ‘Biddy’ and lived with her owners Arthur and Elizabeth Delve in Smethwick, Staffordshire. Information was added in brackets on the schedule and read

‘”Biddy” faithful Irish Terrier Bitch, Magnificent Watch, a demon on Cats and Vermin.’

The second dog lived with a London reporter and his young family. James and Elizabeth Little lived in Herne Hill, Southwark with their son, Donald and daughter, Bessie. A note at the bottom of their schedule states

‘Incidentally we have an Airedale Terrier, I do not know whether particulars are required, but in case you want them here they are.’

The information given reveals that the dog’s name was ‘Roger’ a 5yr old who lived ‘on his own account’ and worked ‘At home and Outside’. Roger’s life was not only one of work as under the number of children column it was delicately recorded with a question mark followed by clarification ‘…but something over 100’!  Roger was obviously known as the local Romeo amongst the female canine population.

These schedules can be freely viewed through the Library Service using Ancestry and findmypast.  The story of the two dogs, among many others, is included in a new book available to borrow from the Library; ‘A History of Britain in 100 dogs’ by Emma White.

Illustration is taken from Punch (vol 1, Jul-Dec 1841, p90)

This is the second of our articles focussing on an occupation which appears in the English Census records and other documentation. The Oxford English Dictionary simply defines this term as ‘One whose employment it is to dig graves.’ The term is very old with the first written use of it in 1594 according to the dictionary. The men who fulfilled this need in communities were also called ‘Burye Man’ during those early years although, understandably, it does not appear to have been an occupational term that became a general surname as in the case of ‘Butcher’, ‘Baker’ or ‘Shepherd’.

An entry on the 1841 census for Liverpool lists two young men of around 20yrs old who are only listed by their first names - Richard and Jonathan.  Instead of a surname the words ‘the Gravedigger’ have been added to both.  It would be interesting to discover if they have been traced within some family and their surnames restored to them.  Were they brothers or just lodging in the same house? We may never know.

A more local and far more interesting character associated with this profession can be found on the census for Lewes, East Sussex. In 1901 a lady named Elizabeth Steere, age 72, was living in Cemetery Cottage in Lewes. Although she was listed as a ‘caretaker of Lewes Cemetery’ it is obvious that her duties, at least up to 1899, included helping with the actual digging of the graves.  An article was written about this unusual lady in the Sussex County Magazine in 1931 when relatives wrote in answer to an article

‘….Mrs Steere was appointed sexton to the All Saints’ and Cliff Cemetery, Lewes in place of her husband…………….One morning she (had) found her husband dead in the garden of her cottage in the cemetery. After her husband’s death she carried on his work.’ (Vol 5[1931] p769)

The photograph above shows Mrs Steere, in her winter clothes, standing in a grave. The photograph comes from an original held by 'Edward Reeves Photography, Lewes' and is used with their permission.

There are some exciting new additions to the websites for Ancestry and findmypast.    The list below includes some of the new databases now available. If you have family in Australia or been frustrated because you cannot find people on the 1939 register it may be worth visiting the library and having another look – you may just find some of your missing relatives among the new releases.

What’s new in Ancestry?

Australia - Births and Baptisms (1792-1981) - a collection of births and baptisms from New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia.

London, England, TS Exmouth Training Ship Records, 1876-1918 - Training ships were used to train boys in all aspects of seamanship preparing them for a career at sea. The Metropolitan Asylums Board borrowed the Exmouth from the Royal Navy in 1877 and used it as a way to provide vocational training to boys in their care.

Jersey parish registers covering baptisms, marriages and burials covering 1540-1940

What’s new in findmypast?

New parish register collections for Rutland and Leicestershire with additional collections of wills and electoral registers for Leicestershire.

The 1939 register now contains over 5 million more records than it did at launch. In the year since the Register was launched, findmypast has matched millions of 'closed records' to multiple sources to correctly confirm the date and location of death for individuals recorded. This has resulted in more than three million records being opened in the past 12 months, while an additional two million records have been opened to mark the anniversary of the register's launch.

British Royal Navy Allotment Declarations 1795-1852 - allowed petty officers, seamen, non-commissioned officers, and marines to remit part of their wages for the maintenance of their mothers, wives, or families. Records can show where and when they were married, the names, ages, and baptism dates of their children, the allotted individuals residence, the allotment date and where payable.

Free access to these and other online resources is available on any library computer if you are a library member.

The General Register Office website has recently added to its online services. In addition to being able to order copies of birth, marriage and death certificates they have added two new indexes for births (1837-1916) and deaths (1837-1957).

All previously available birth indexes including those on Ancestry, Findmypast and FreeBMD have only shown the mother’s maiden name from July 1911 and in the death indexes the age at death was only shown from 1866. The new indexes now include this information against most entries from the earliest records in 1837.

Searching the records is free but you do need to register on the site with an email address and password (if you have registered previously to order certificates there is no need to do so again). You need to enter whether birth or death, the surname, gender and year as a minimum and the search will only cover up to two years either side of the date given. This can make it a lengthy process to find all the children born in one family, however if you have a number of possible William Smiths to choose from it may save you from ordering lots of unwanted certificates.

Once you find the certificate you want you can place an order direct from the index. The website will fill the order form with the index references so all you need to do is add your own details.

Was your ancestor a policeman? If so, this talk at West Sussex Record Office could be just for you.

‘On The Beat’ - The History and Archive of West Sussex Constabulary 1857-1967

An illustrated talk by Holly Wright.

Date: Tuesday 25 April 2017 Time: 7.00pm

Tickets: £8.00 (non-refundable) - please book in advance by contacting the Record Office.

The illustration is from the George Garland collection, held at the West Sussex Record Office.