Pre-order my new book Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland

I'm delighted to say that my new book is now available for pre-order from Pen and Sword at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Researching-Ancestral-Crisis-in-Ireland-Paperback/p/51770, at an introductory price of £12.79 (RRP £15.99) plus postage. The book will be published on February 28th 2025. 

Entitled Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland: A Guide for Family Historians, the book looks at the moments in our Irish ancestors' lives where things went wrong, and how they were documented. Here's the back cover blurb:

Ireland is an extraordinarily beautiful island from which millions can claim their direct ancestry. But Ireland is also an island which has experienced some truly extraordinary moments of crisis which will have directly impacted our forebears, helping to shape us into the individuals that we are today. Whenever such crises happened, whether on a national scale or within the home, there was invariably somebody standing close to hand with a quill and parchment to document the misfortunes that befell so many.

In this latest book, family historian Chris Paton takes a look at some of the darkest episodes of Irish history over the last four hundred years, as well as the everyday crises that affected everyone throughout their lives. He will discuss the impact of many major events on our ancestors, including colonisation, conquest and rebellion, as well as the various pressures endured from within the family, the church, and the state.

Along the way Chris highlights the records that can help us to show the various trials and tribulations faced by our ancestors, which can help to vividly bring our family histories to life, including those available both online and within Ireland's many local and national archives.

And the following is the chapter breakdown:

Introduction

Acknowledgements

Timeline

1. Irish Family History Research Basics
    Births, marriages and deaths
    Church records
        Roman Catholic records
        Protestant church records
    Census records
    Wills
    DNA
    Gateway sites
    Irish archives
    British archives
    Libraries
    Commercial vendors    
    Newspapers
    Societies
    Commercial research services

2. Family events and relationships
    Births and illegitimacy
    'Fallen women'
    Mother and baby homes
    Foundlings
    Orphans
    Adoption
    Home children
    Marital issues
    Separation and divorce
    Bigamy
    Homosexuality
    Death
    Suicide
    
3. Law and Order
    Brehon laws        
    English law
    The Crown courts
    Local courts
    Grand juries
    Manor records
    Church courts
    Police and prison records
    Transportation
    Execution

4. Poverty and health
    Poor law
    Deportation of Irish paupers from Britain
    Public health concerns
    Hospitals and public health
    Asylums

5. Them and Us
    The Plantations of Ulster
    The 1641 Rebellion
    The Cromwellian Conquest
    The Penal Laws
    The Great Famine
    The Land War
    The Home Rule Crisis
    The Suffragettes
    The Dublin Lockout
    The First World War
    The Easter Rising
    The War of Independence
    The Treaty and the Civil War
    The Legacy of Conflict

I hope you enjoy the book, I've put a lot into it!

** Please note that the book will be available in the United States from April 2025, retailing at US $28.95 - see https://www.penandswordbooks.com/9781036110376/researching-ancestral-crisis-in-ireland/ for details.

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Who Do You Think You Are? magazine Jan 2024

I've just received the latest Who Do You Think You Are? magazine edition, issue 213, January 2024, which includes an "Around Britain" series article by yours truly on Northern Ireland research and PRONI, the country's national archive (don't worry, I've addressed the geographical elephant in the room in the opening paragraph!).

Another interesting article, for Scots research, is that by Rosemary Collins, who talks to Loraine Duncan and Rhona Barr about their Friends of Hartwood Paupers Cemetery project at https://www.fohpc.com, focussed on the stories of those who were buried in the graveyard at Hartwood Hospital (Lanark District Asylum) near Shotts in Lanarkshire.

Also in the magazine are articles on 50 website to watch next year, finding trade union membership records, and Metropolitan Police records.  

For more on the latest edition, visit https://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/magazine (currently still advertising the Christmas edition at the time of writing, but will be updated soon!)

Chris  

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Ancestry adds new searchable indexes for the Ulster Covenant and WW1 Royal Victoria Hospital register

Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) has added two new third party databases of records from PRONI. 

The first deals with the Ulster Covenant of 1912, the protest document signed by half a million Protestants against the prospect of Home Rule in Ireland:

Web: Ulster, Ireland, Ulster Covenant, 1912
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/70924/
Original data: Ulster Covenant 1912. Northern Ireland: Public Records Office of Northern Ireland. https://apps.proni.gov.uk/ulstercovenant/Search.aspx: Accessed February 2023.

There is no description of the collection on the site, although you can find out more about the records on the PRONI site at https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/about-ulster-covenant. To do an address search in the collection, use the 'Lived in' field.

Bizarrely, the collection does not pop up in the catalogue when you search for it, unless you first untick the 'Only search for records in the UK and Ireland' box. (It's possible our American friends don't know where Ulster is...!) 

The second collection is for Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, records from 1914-1916:

Belfast, Antrim, Ireland, Royal Victoria Hospital Register, 1914-1916
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/70914/
Original data: Royal Victoria Hospital Register, 1914-1916. Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK: Public Records Office of Northern Ireland. https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/royal-victoria-hospital-register-1914-1916: Accessed October 2022.

About Belfast, Antrim, Ireland, Royal Victoria Hospital Register, 1914-1916

This collection contains medical registers for more than 700 soldiers from the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast between the years 1914 and 1916. Most records are in English.

Using this collection

Records in the collection may include the following information:

• Name
• Rank
• Hospital Admission Date
• Hospital Discharge Date
• Military Regiment
• Battalion Number
• Attaché Regiment
• Service Number
• Page Number

Military records can provide insight into your ancestor's military experience, both in peacetime and war. These records can provide a unique snapshot of their life at the time. Military records can also give insights into where your ancestor was located during key points in military history.

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Old Scottish adds Scottish asylum records and Aberdeenshire Sheriff Court extract decrees

Old Scottish Genealogy & Family History has added an index to all admissions to Scottish asylums 1858-1915 (www.oldscottish.com/asylum-patients.html), and further Aberdeen Sheriff Court entries to its Sheriff Court Extract Decrees index, taking the total to over 42,000 (www.oldscottish.com/sheriff-court-extract-decrees.html).

(With thanks to FergusSmith @oldscotbooks via Twitter)

Chris

Just out, Sharing Your Family History Online is on sale at https://bit.ly/SharingFamHist. Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is also out, as are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

FindmyPast expands WW1 armed forces medical records collection

FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) has expanded its British Armed Forces, First World War Soldiers' Medical Records collection (https://search.findmypast.co.uk/search-world-Records/british-armed-forces-first-world-war-soldiers-medical-records), as sourced from the National Archives at Kew (collection MH106). 

Although it does not specifically state what is actually new to the database, the full list of medical facilities now featured is as follows:

2nd General Hospital
4th Stationary Hospital
14th Field Ambulance
18th General Hospital
19th General Hospital
28th General Hospital
31st Ambulance Train
51st Field Ambulance
66th Field Ambulance
139th Field Ambulance
149th Field Ambulance
Catterick Military Hospital
County of Middlesex War Hospital at Napsbury
Craiglockhart Hospital
HM Hospital Ship Assaye
No 3 Casualty Clearing Station
No 11 Casualty Clearing Station
No 31 Casualty Clearing Station
No 34 Casualty Clearing Station
No 34 Combined Clearing Hospital
No 39 Casualty Clearing Station
No 39 Casualty Clearing Hospital
No 82 Casualty Clearing Station
Queen Alexandra's Military Hospital at Millbank 

FindmyPast also has the following helpful information about the collection:

This collection comprises The National Archives’ series, MH106, War Office: First World War Representative Medical Records of Servicemen. Only a sample of the medical records was retained. These records are a representative selection of the full collection of medical records created during the war. Due to data protection, Findmypast has only published records where the admission year is dated back 100 years. For this reason, more records will be released in the coming years. The records include admissions and discharge records from hospitals, field ambulances, and casualty clearing stations. You will also find records from Queen Alexandra’s Military Hospital before the First World War, dating from 1910...

The medical records were collected by the Medical Research Committee and then given over to the British Museum during the First World War, 1914 to 1918. The records were used for statistical research. In 1931, Thomas John Mitchell and G M Smith published History of the Great War, based on official documents. Medical services: Casualties and medical statistics of the Great War from the data gathered from these medical records.

For other releases this week, including various Yorkshire records in England, visit www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/unique-wartime-records

Chris

Pre-order my next book, Sharing Your Family History Online, at https://bit.ly/SharingFamHist. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is also out, as are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.