3D Tour of Westminster Parliament

I'm not sure how long this has been online, or whether this is a leaving present from London to all of us north of the border as we prepare to say bye bye in the next five years (sorry, I'll leave the politics to last week from now on! lol), but like it or loathe it, the Palace of Westminster is one of the most stunning buildings in Britain. There is a 3D tour around the place with information hotspots and more at www.parliament.uk/visiting/online-tours/virtualtours/westminster-hall-tours/westminster-hall/

Well worth exploring.

Chris

Discover Scottish Church Records - sneak peak

I've gone a bit book mad this year! Tracing Your Family History on the Internet was recently released by Pen and Sword (www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/?product_id=2974), whilst I am currently working on a book about Scotland's oldest unsolved murder story for publication at the end of the year. In between both I've also managed to squeeze in another project, which should be published in the next couple of weeks by Unlock the Past in Australia (www.unlockthepast.com.au).

Discover Scottish Church Records is an exploration of the history and records of the various churches in Scotland prior to 1855, the year in which civil registration commenced within the country. It describes the theological changes imposed by the Reformation of 1560, the nature of the state’s battles with the Kirk, and the Kirk’s subsequent battles within itself. Most importantly, it also discusses the nature of the records generated by the various Scottish churches, how to interpret them, and above all else, how to find them.

Whether you are looking for tales of ministers carried into the air by Scotland’s fairy folk, the fire and thunder of John Knox, a detailed explanation of the online offerings of the ScotlandsPeople website, or the treasures waiting in the National Records of Scotland, this is the definitive research guide to help anyone with Caledonian connections! (says so on the cover! lol)

Still waiting for price details and exact date of publication, but for societies which may be interested in ordering copies the UTP website at www.unlockthepast.com.au/unlock-past-publications lists the various discounts etc which are involved.

Hopefully this might be of as much interest to you all here in Scotland as for those down under! I'll provide an update when it goes on sale.

Chris

Harris tweed exhibition in Glasgow

An exhibition looking at a hundred years of the Harris Tweed Orb trademark and the tweed weaving industry will get underway at Glasgow's Urban Outfitters store from Thursday May 12th for eight weeks, as a project from Scottish fashion designer Judy R. Clark.

For the full story visit www.stornowaygazette.co.uk/lifestyle/lifestyle-leisure/a_tale_of_tweed_1_1616559 - the address is not given in the article, but you'll find the shop at 157 Buchanan Street Glasgow G1 2JX, tel: 0141 248 9203 (www.urbanoutfitters.co.uk/page/glasgow).

(With thanks to @harristweedauth and @direcleit on Twitter.)

Chris

The Boys Brigade

A proud post now with something for you also! lol

At Boys Brigade displays in Largs on Friday and Saturday my two sons were awarded best boy trophies for P2 and P6. My youngest is in the Anchor Boys (which we used to call the Robins in the 1970s and 80s when I was in the BB in Plymouth in England, and Carrickfergus in Ulster), whilst my eldest has now been promoted from Junior Section to Company Section. Founded in Scotland, the organisation is now worldwide, largely the same from country to country, though with some regional differences. I received a comment to a Twitter post from Australian based genie Rosemary Kopittke where she mentioned that the Junior Section down under is referred to as "Number 1 section", for example, and here in Scotland, boys seem to be promoted to the Company Section a year earlier than the equivalent in Northern Ireland.

But apart from a quick plug to show off my boys, I thought I'd take the opportunity to provide a quick potted history of the BB - so here goes!

The Boys’ Brigade (www.boys-brigade.org.uk) was a Christian youth movement founded in 1883 by Sir William Alexander Smith, a Thurso born man who had previously relocated to Glasgow from the north following the death of his father. A Church of Scotland Sunday School teacher and member of the 1st Lanarkshire Royal Volunteers, Smith had the idea of creating an organisation that combined the best of both worlds, with the initial purpose of achieving “the advancement of Christ’s Kingdom amongst Boys and the promotion of habits of Reverence, Discipline, Self-respect and all that tends towards a true Christian manliness”. The first Boys’ Brigade company, 1st Glasgow, was founded on October 4th 1883 at the Free Church Mission Hall on the city’s North Woodside Road, and the idea of the movement soon spread like wildfire across the UK and Ireland within the next decade.

Boys initially wore the standard military inspired BB uniform, which included a white haversack, brown leather belt with brass buckle, and a pill-box cap, and progressed through military style ranks. As a former member of the BB myself in Northern Ireland in the 1980s, the uniform I wore was almost identical, the sole difference being the wearing of a blue forage cap instead of the pill box cap, which was abandoned in the 1960s. The uniform has since undergone a radical change, with Company section kids now wearing a blue shirt and tie, no jacket, no haversack etc. Officers wore Glengarry hats, which is still the standard issue today.

The emblem of the BB was initially an anchor carrying the motto “Sure & Stedfast” (taken from a biblical verse found at Hebrews 6:19), though following its merger with the Boys’ Life Brigade in 1926, a red cross was added, which remains the symbol today. The organisation’s routine was to meet for physical activity, temperance lessons, badge work, religious instruction and drill, which included the carrying of dummy rifles, though this was abandoned following the Life Boys’ objections to the symbolism of weapons. Once a year members would go to an annual camp, providing an opportunity for the boys to remain in contact during the summer break, a tradition that is still the highlight of the year for most companies.

Notable members of the Boys Brigade in the past have included Manchester United’s manager Sir Alex Ferguson, television presenter Jonathan Ross and singer Sir Cliff Richard, whilst businessman Sir Alan Sugar was a member of a Jewish based equivalent organisation called the Jewish Lads Brigade.

I don't know if they still do it, but after each evening's session in Company Section we had to sing a vespers hymn:

Great God who knowest all our needs
Bless thou our watch and guard our sleep
Forgive our sins of thought and deed
And in thy peace thy servants keep.

We thank thee for the day that's done
We trust thee for the day to be
Thy love we learn in Christ thy son
Oh may we all his glory see.

Not sure if we used words like thy and thou because we were singing some old Presbyterian number or because we were still living in the 17th century in Ulster! Some things certainly have not changed - I found myself yesterday belting out "Will your anchor hold in the storms of life" at my youngest's display!

I have no belief in a God, but by God, I have a belief in the BB! A great organisation which has given me some great memories in the past, including camps in Thurso, London, France and Switzerland, and which is brilliantly providing as much fun for my kids today.

Do any readers have any BB memories to share?!

Chris

Sons of Galloway website

Thanks to the Scottish Military Research Group blog for flagging up a useful site for those with Dumfries and Galloway ancestors who served in the First World War.

The Sons of Galloway site is available at www.sonsofgalloway.org.uk - well worth a visit.

Chris

Orkney Archives - press gang warrant

Orkney Archives have put a fascinating document up on its blog following last night's pirate themed episode of Doctor Who. It is a warrant from 1803 authorised by the Lord High Admiral of the Royal Navy deliberately facilitating the use of press gangs to crew ships. Well worth a read, it's quite a shocker, to quote the blog!

To see the document visit http://orkneyarchive.blogspot.com/2011/05/which-is-scarier-dr-who-or-press-gangs.html

Chris

Pensear website redeveloped

Thanks to the Genealogy in Time newsletter which has flagged up that the old Pensear website has been redesigned and renamed as Ireland Genealogy, with a new URL at www.ireland-genealogy.com.

The site offers fragments of the 1841 and 1851 censuses of Ireland, which were used to support pension applications from 1908. When a person applied for a pension a fee was paid to search the relevant census for supporting information, and the information for the whole household was copied into a register, not just that of the applicant. This often included some additional supporting information given by the applicant, such as a mother's maiden name, etc. When the censuses were subsequently destroyed, these copies survived. Each record costs £2 to view, but family history societies can get a 20% discount. There are two examples given of what a return looks like - unfortunately it is the same example given twice!

FYI, the same information is also available in printed collections made accessible on www.Ancestry.co.uk/irish, via two separate records sets, Ireland: 1841/1851 Census Abstracts (Northern Ireland), and Ireland: 1841/1851 Census Abstracts (Republic of Ireland). The same census extracts for Northern Ireland are also available on Emerald Ancestors (www.emeraldancestors.com).

Chris

FindmyPast Ireland - full records list

In my first post on the new FindmyPast Ireland site I mentioned that I could not see an immediate list of records held on the site - these can in fact be found at www.findmypast.ie/content/using-the-records. You'll find that from the home page under the Help and Advice tab, then Using the Records. Each collection has a useful dedicated page detailing the source.

I'm more impressed with the site now I've finally been able to get a handle on what is actually there, with other holdings of interest including the Tipperary Clans archive (newspaper intimations from across Ireland, though mainly from Munster) and a larger list of directories than I at first thought was there. The list of holdings could certainly do with being much better flagged up from the home page.

Keep an eye out for a full review in a forthcoming issue of Family History Monthly!

Chris

Regimental histories on Internet Archive

John Reid has posted a useful list on his Anglo-Celtic Connections blog of regimental histories which have been added to the Internet Archive (www.archive.org), including a few Scottish. Useful to understand what was happening with any regiment your ancestor may have served with.

To see the list visit http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.com/2011/05/historical-account-of-regiment.html

(With thanks to John)

Chris

Scottish War Brides talk

From the National Library of Scotland newsletter:

Bottled Tears: Scottish War Brides of World War Two - Talk

12 May 2011, 6.00pm

Over the past ten years, Beverley Tosh, a New Zealand-born Canadian artist, has been consumed with the exploration and creative reinterpretation of the historical phenomenon of war brides: brides of foreign military personnel who married during the WWII era and immigrated to their husbands' homelands. Join us for a fascinating audio-visual presentation as Beverley talks about her work that is based on history and personal experience, crossing disciplines, nationalities and generations.

For more details, and to book online, visit www.nls.uk/events.

Chris