Tuesday, 28 March 2023

Update to Railway Work, Life and Death project

From Mike Esbester, news of an update on British and Irish railway staff trade union records:

Was your railway ancestor a trade unionist?

As the railway industry was one of Britain and Ireland's biggest employers for much of the 19th and 20th centuries, many of us have railway ancestors. From the 1870s railway workers started to join trades unions, to secure better working conditions. This has produced records which help us with our family history research - if we can get hold of them!

As part of its work on accidents to British and Irish railway staff before 1939, the 'Railway Work, Life & Death' project has just released a major new update to its free database. Around 25,000 records, focusing on trade unionists, have been made public and they want us to make use of them!

The records cover 1889-1920, and deal with accidents, ill-health and old age. They document the support provided to its members by the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants/ National Union of Railwaymen. They give us details about financial support offered when staff became too old or too ill to work, or if they had an accident. The orphan fund, for example, provided a weekly payment to look after children under 14; compensation funds also gave members and their families vital financial stability after an accident.

All together the database now has nearly 50,000 cases between 1889 and 1939, all transcribed by the project’s excellent volunteers.

The project is a joint initiative of the University of Portsmouth, the National Railway Museum and the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick, working with The National Archives. It wants to see the information it’s making available being used by you, in your research - it's all available free, from the project website. They're also keen to hear from you if you find someone you're researching, so please let them know.

www.railwayaccidents.port.ac.uk

Twitter: @RWLDproject

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Railway-Work-Life-Death-108745674380484

(With thanks to Mike)

Chris

Pre-order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors 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. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Legacies of Slavery exhibition in Aberdeen

From the University of Aberdeen (https://www.abdn.ac.uk), details of a new exhibition running until December:

Legacies of Slavery: Transatlantic Slavery and Aberdeen

A new exhibition exploring the North-East's links to the slave trade.

‘Legacies of Slavery: Transatlantic Slavery and Aberdeen’ is a new exhibition exploring the North-East’s links to the slave trade.

It forms part of the University’s commitment to improve understanding of both the institution’s own colonial legacy and the wider region’s connections to the enslavement of people.

‘Legacies of Slavery: Transatlantic Slavery and Aberdeen’ will run from March 27 to December 2, 2023 at the University of Aberdeen’s Sir Duncan Rice Library Gallery.

Entry is FREE. 

For details on opening hours, visit https://www.abdn.ac.uk/events/18734/

Chris

Pre-order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors 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. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Monday, 27 March 2023

NLS maps website adds print function for geo-referenced maps

The National Library of Scotland has added a print function to its geo-referenced mapping platform at https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=5.0&lat=56.00000&lon=-4.00000&layers=1&b=1. You will find the printer icon at the bottom left of the screen, beside the buttons allowing you to zoom in or widen out from an image. You can also save an image as a JPG, PNG file, or PDF document.

As well as many recent additions for English and Welsh agricultural and geological maps, the site has also added 2,094 out of copyright Ordnance Survey maps at scales of 1:1,250 to 1:63,360, for the whole of Britain from 1972. 

Further details are available at https://maps.nls.uk/additions/.

Chris

Pre-order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors 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. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Glasgow's Mitchell Library is sinking

Glasgow's Mitchell Library is sinking (well, a wee bit!). The library, home to the Glasgow City Archives, is experiencing an issue with subsidence, with its Jeffrey Room now displaying cracks, as well as part of the facade being slightly lopsided. Planning permission has now been sought to carry out work on the listed building, to stabilise the structure. 

For further details visit https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow-news/glasgow-mitchell-library-set-repair-26533625

Chris

Pre-order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors 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. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

IrishGenealogy.ie adds an extra year of free civil registration records

The Irish site offering free access to civil registration records, www.irishgenealogy.ie, has added an extra year's worth of records - you can now access birth records from 1922 (the first full years after Partition), marriages for 1947, and deaths from 1972.

The coverage available on the site is now:

  • Births: 1864-1922
  • Marriages: 1845-1947
  • Deaths: 1871-1972*

(*Deaths from 1864-1870 have yet to be released)

Some things to note:

Record images are sourced from the registers held in Dublin, which are separate copies to those held in Belfast. In my new book, Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, I show how occasionally there are discrepancies between the two sets of records.

Coverage on the site for Northern Ireland (Antrim, Down, Armagh, Fermanagh, Tyrone, Londonderry) is only up to the point of Partition, i.e. 1921. For post-1921 Northern Irish records, visit the pay-per-view site https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk.

Chris

Pre-order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors 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. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Scotland's oldest surviving tartan cloth dates to the 16th century

Scotland's oldest surviving tartan cloth dates to the 16th century. Known as the Glen Affric tartan, the scrap of cloth was found in a peat bog in the Highlands 40 years ago, and has now been radiocarbon dated, suggesting a high confidence of its creation between 1500 and 1600. The cloth was likely part of a garment worn by a labourer, and pre-dates the 'Sir Walter Scottish' era of tartan, when the modern rules were somewhat invented as to who was entitled to wear a tartan and when.

The cloth will go on display to the public at the V&A Dundee design museum, from April 1st until January 14th 2024.

For more on the story, visit https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-65081312 and https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tartanDetails?ref=1402.

Chris

Pre-order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors 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. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Friday, 24 March 2023

Cancer linked gene mutation identified for those with ancestry from Westray

The following may be of interest if you have ancestors from Westray, in the Orkney Islands. A breast and ovarian cancer causing mutation on the BRCA1 gene has been specifically connected to those with ancestral connections to the island. 

For more on the story, please visit https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-65068794

Chris

Pre-order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors 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. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

TNA outlines Ancestry's Second World War UK military records digitisation plans

The National Archives at Kew in England (https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk) has recently announced that Ancestry would be digitising service records material from the Second World War, but it has now extensively detailed its digitisation plans remit for the next few years. First, its introductory post (from https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/award-of-mod-records-digitisation-contract/)

We have announced that we have awarded Ancestry®, a contract to digitise the first tranche of Ministry of Defence service personnel records. Both parties are looking forward to working to make these important records accessible online.

Gemma Maclagan Ram, Commercial Director at The National Archives said:

‘Widening access to records is very important to us and we are pleased that this partnership with Ancestry will allow people to look at these records in the comfort of their own homes. We know how important these records are to military groups, veterans and family genealogists and we are working with Ancestry to ensure that they are accessible online as early as possible.’

This contract covers the first four groups of non-officer British Army service records: approximately three million files in total, amounting to an estimated 36 million images. We anticipate that the digitisation will take over four years, so from late 2024 Ancestry will publish in tranches, when each series of records is ready for publication online. 

The real detail, however, is in the subsequent link at https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/our-role/plans-policies-performance-and-projects/our-plans/ministry-of-defence-service-records/ - and it is packed with information.

The following are some key snippets:

  • The records included in this collection cover personnel in all three services – Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force – where the individual has a date of birth before or up to 1 January 1939.  They include around 500,000 personnel with First World War service, and the vast majority of those who served in the Second World War.
  • The most common information within the collection are attestation papers, which capture details of when the individual joined the service, along with a Record of Service that shows which units and between what dates the individual served in.
  • There are just under ten million records, representing the biggest and most complex transfer of public records in our history.
  • We have already received over four million records and expect to complete the transfer of all Army non-officer records within the scope of the project by the end of March 2024. We will then move onto RAF non-officer records in 2024-25. The whole transfer process will run until 2026.
  • The first four collections to be digitised are British Army service records of non-officer ranks:    WO 420: Approximately 54,000 service records of other ranks (not Officers) who served in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) during the Second World War. The REME was established in October 1942 and was responsible for the maintenance and repair of military equipment. It consisted of skilled tradesmen, many of whom had initially transferred from other units.  WO 421: Over 94,000 records, originally held at the Bournemouth Combined Manning Record Office, of soldiers from 12 smaller units/corps during the Second World War and immediately after, discharged as over age personnel. WO 419: Over 830,000 records of other ranks discharged from the infantry of the British Army between 1921 and 1939. The majority of the service records relate to individuals who served during the First World War, and who opted to continue their service beyond 1921, but also include those who served only throughout the inter-war period and were discharged before the outbreak of the Second World War. WO 422: Over two million records of non-commissioned officers and other ranks who served in infantry regiments of the British Army during the Second World War and who were discharged from the armed forces as ‘over age’ before their time expired in the reserves after 1945.
  • These collections were chosen as they contain the largest proportion of open and publishable records. They also include records of individuals from across the world who served in the British Army, particularly during the Second World War.
  • Are you digitising everything in each MoD service record? No – due to the scale of the project, and the nature of the information that records contain, it is not possible to digitise each service record in its entirety.
  • Will MOD service records for living individuals be digitised? Only MOD service records of individuals with a date of birth over 100 years ago will be published.
  • Our licensing partner for the first tranche of records, Ancestry, will publish the records on their platform in phases between 2024 and 2029.
  • The service records will be available to view free of charge in digital format in our reading rooms.  They will also be available free of charge at two more public access venues within the UK, details to be confirmed. Libraries and other public institutions with institutional Ancestry subscriptions may also offer free access.
  • The digitisation project "consists of just over three million records, and an estimated 36 million images".
  • We are gradually cataloguing the service records as they are transferred to us... Collections now partially available to search and browse (on Discovery) include: WO 420: Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers regiment (other ranks); WO 421: selected smaller corps (other ranks); WO 422: infantry over age (other ranks)
  • Will MOD service records for living individuals be digitised? Only MOD service records of individuals with a date of birth over 100 years ago will be published. The long-accepted assumption of 100 years for life means that records can be opened 100 years and one day from the date of birth of the individual. Our licensing partner for the first tranche of records, Ancestry, will publish newly opened records on an annual rolling basis as they reach 100 years old.

It looks like we'll have lots to get stuck into over the next few years! For further detail, visit the link above.

Chris

Pre-order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors 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. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

FindmyPast adds local British Army Boer War enrolment forms

FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) has added a military collection which may be of assistance for Scottish and Irish research:

British Army, Local Armed Forces' Enrolment Forms, Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902

This all-new set contains transcriptions for 64,888 enrolment forms from the Anglo-Boer War, which was fought between the British Empire and the Boer Republic in South Africa between 1899 and 1902.

Although the content of the records varies slightly depending on which enrolment form was used in each case, this set provides the name, age, nationality and trade of each soldier, as well as his regiment, regimental number and place of enlistment.

A next of kin (and their address) is also stated in these records. This provides valuable insight into each individual's family and background.


A quick test using Glasgow in a keyword search pulls up 537 entries, and for Belfast 191, so there may well be something in there for you.

For further details visit https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/boer-war-surrey

Chris

Pre-order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors 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. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Speakers announced for Scottish Indexes 20 conference in April

Graham and Emma Maxwell's next Scottish Indexes conference takes place on April 15th 2023. The following speakers have now been announced:

  • Making the most of Scottish Prison Records - by Emma Maxwell
  • Caledonian Asylum Petitions - by Lorna Kinnaird
  • My Cousin Sophia - by Karen de Bruyne
  • Scottish Kirk Session Records - by Chris Paton
  • Body Snatching and Dissecting the Destitute - by Dee Hoole
  • Using DNA For Family History - by Michelle Leonard 

As well as answering questions at the end of each presentation (which will be run as a programme twice in the day to cater for international attendees), we'll also be doing the usual trying to pull rabbits out of thin air in the two hour long Q&A sessions, which is always fun!

The conferences are free to attend, with donaltions accepted to help with running costs. Further details are available at https://www.scottishindexes.com - hopefully see you there!

Chris

Pre-order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors 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. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.