Folkestone & District
Family History Society

Member of the Federation of Family History Societies

 

Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: C:\Users\Jen\Documents\Folkestone & District FHS\Web Site\Web Pages\fdfhs logo colour(rgb).jpg


Back to Main Page

WEBSITES FEATURED IN WEB WATCH

 For ease of viewing the websites mentioned in “Web Watch”, a regular feature of our quarterly journal, the whole article is reproduced below. 

Since websites, their content and their links are prone to frequent change, or even removal, we will only display the articles from the previous four issues of the journal.

 

Vol 25, No 2:  December 2011

 

The National Archives – http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/nursing.asp

TNA have published online more than 15,000 First World War nursing service records from the WO399 files, providing a glimpse into the life stories of the women who dedicated their lives to their profession.  The records date from 1902 to 1922 and hold an unusually high level of detail, rarely seen in service records.

 

British Newspaper Archive - http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

The British Library and brightsolid offer access to up to 4 million fully searchable pages, featuring more than 200 newspaper titles from every part of the UK and Ireland.  The newspapers mainly date from the 19th century and cover every aspect of local, regional and national news.  The quality of the OCR is very variable.  The cost of viewing a page is 5, 10 or 15 units; 500 units lasting 2 days cost £6.95.  Some titles are already available free online at home via KCC Libraries.

 

Ancestry - http://www.ancestry.co.uk

Ancestry have published further records for London from LMA including Freedom of the City Admission Papers, 1681-1925, covering almost 600,000 men and women.  Make sure that you view the following and preceding images as they may have further information.  Also some of the index entries have mixed up the forenames and dates of the applicant and their father.

 

Ancestry with TNA and the Naval and Military Press. have released The Silver War Badge Records, 1914–1920, which reveal the 880,000 soldiers, sailors and pilots who qualified for the Badge. It’s a comprehensive database of men who were injured or ill during the Great War and matches the number on a man’s service and pension records and medal index card.

 

Another new set of records on Ancestry is the Apprentice Books, 1710-1811 from TNA series IR1.

 

Ancestry have also released Dorset and Warwickshire parish records, Irish Catholic parish records and Irish civil records, the latter also being on NewFamilySearch.

 

Find My Past - http://www.findmypast.co.uk

FMP have added 128,000 burial records from the East Kent Burial Index covering 1802 to 1846.

 

In partnership with FindMyPast TNA have made one million Merchant Navy Seamen records available online for the first time from the BT348, BT349 and BT350 series.  Among the records of UK merchant ships' crew members, which date from 1918 to 1941 are some rarely-seen photographs of sailors.

http://www.findmypast.co.uk/search/merchant-navy-seamen

 

They have also indexed Crew Lists for 1881 and 1891, each with 70,000 entries, to help find sailors missing from the censuses - http://www.findmypast.co.uk/search/clip-crew-lists

 

FMP have indexed over 4000 records of Military Nurses covering 1856 to 1940 from four separate TNA series and one set from the Imperial War Museum.

 

FMP are indexing the Scottish censuses but without images.  So far 1841, 1851 and 1861 are available. 

Street indexes for the Scottish Censuses from 1841 to 1911 can be viewed free at

http://www.scotlandspeoplehub.gov.uk/research/census-records-1841-1911.html by selecting a year and scrolling down.

 

FMP have also released parish records for Thames-side Kent, Berkshire, Cheshire and Gwent, and parish and other records for Manchester.

 

Find My Past Ireland - www.findmypast.ie

They have announced a new resource with 3.5 million entries from Irish Prison Registers 1790-1920. at the National Archives of Ireland.

 

The Genealogist – http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk

They have released the 1911 Census for Kent.  Their index includes the number of years married with an automatic option to use this and the names to search the GRO marriage index.  They have also added a number of printed Catholic registers.

 

UKBMD - www.ukbmd.org.uk
The UKBMD based web sites have had their search software updated so that individual sub-districts can be searched on births and deaths, and individual marriage venues can be searched on marriages. On each of the search forms, when the user selects a single region, a list appears allowing the user to refine their search.

 

FamilySearch - https://www.familysearch.org/

They have added indexes or images of some parish records for Bristol, Cheshire, Cornwall, Essex and Warwickshire and most of the Censuses.

 

Deceased Online – https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch

New additions include 61,000 records for Eltham Crematorium.

 

Origins - http://www.origins.net/

They have added Wills & Administrations at Canterbury 1396-1558 & 1640-50 (BRS vol. 50) over 34,200 entries and Wills & Administrations at Canterbury 1558-1577 (BRS vol. 65) over 8,900 entries plus records for Hertfordshire, Cheltenham, Lichfield, Coventry and Gloucester to the National Wills Index.

 

Who were the Nuns? - http://www.history.qmul.ac.uk/wwtn/index.html

The School of History at Queen Mary, University of London has created a database of English Catholic nuns who lived between the years 1600 and 1800, based on convent sources found in England, Belgium, France, and Maryland. It contains a great deal of genealogical information about the families that produced these nuns.

 

Historical Divers Index - www.thehds.com

The index comprises approximately 4900 names of divers, divers tenders, attendants, linesmen, and diving related trades.  Send queries by e-mail to diversindex@thehds.com

 

GRO BMD fiche.  These have been removed from LMA but are still available at the British Library at St. Pancras and other locations.

 

GENUKI  - www.genuki.org.uk
The most important British and Irish genealogy gateway website has had a revamp.

 

Electoral Rolls 2003 to 2011 - http://tracegenie.com
For £2.95 you can obtain unlimited access for 24 hours to help trace living relatives.

 

University of London -www.shl.lon.ac.uk/specialcollections/archives/studentrecords.shtml
Their archive has put online a list of graduates from 1836-1931, including students who took University of London examinations as external students.

 

Mocavo - http://mocavo.co.uk/                                                                                  

This is a new genealogy search engine that undertakes a search of numerous genealogy web sites looking for words you specify including message boards etc and limits its searches solely to genealogy sites which is helpful for those researching actual names as opposed to common words or corporate names.  Originally US based, they have just started a UK site. 

 

Clergy Guide - http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/agencies-public-bodies/ips/general-ips-publications/civil-reg/clergy-guide?view=Binary

Home Office instructions to clergymen on registration of marriages.  It evens tells you where to buy the permanent blue-black ink and special fountain pens that registrars use, and which vicars are also expected to use.

 

Clergy Newsletter #1 -http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/agencies-public-bodies/ips/general-ips-publications/civil-reg/clergy-nl-1?view=Standard&pubID=939381

This lists a number of common errors in the returns submitted to the GRO.

 

Genealogy Software Compared - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy_software
A comparison of genealogy software, including both free and commercial programs. Software compared includes Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and web-based products.  Explanation of many terms, including GEDCOM, are also available in the article or in articles linked to the article.

 

Free Genealogy Software –

http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2011/09/free-genealogy-software.html
None of these free programs are limited trial offers, but they may have less functionality than corresponding purchased versions. Several of the free genealogy programs are very powerful.

 

Other websites mentioned in this Journal

Page 56

http://www.kent.gov.uk/archives

Page 56

http://www.kent.gov.uk/libraries

Page 57

http://www.kent.gov.uk/kenthistorycentre

 

Vol 25, No 1:  September 2011

The National Archives –

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/digital-microfilm.asp

TNA have made records relating to apprenticeships and the army (and many more) available through its Digital Microfilms service.  The documents are not indexed, and must be downloaded and browsed.  Some downloads are very large.

The Apprentices collection is from IR1, Board of Stamps: Apprenticeship Books.
An index to some IR1 records is available on FindMyPast (from an index held by the Society of Genealogists), and will soon also be on Ancestry (currently going through the World Archives Project).

The annual printed Army Lists are from WO65.  The set is from the War Office library. Each volume was bound with alternate printed and blank sheets, to allow for hand annotations of commissions, promotions etc during the year.

 

Access to Archives – www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a

New online indexes from 'A Place in the Sun', for 1790-3 and part of 1839, have recently gone online.  More than 150 Sun fire insurance registers at the Guildhall Library have been indexed by the project for the period 1790 to 1839.

 

Ancestry - http://www.ancestry.co.uk

Ancestry have released two sets of employment records.

In conjunction with TNA, Railway Employment Records from 1833 to 1963 are available for some companies from pieces in RAIL.

With the British Postal Archive, they have provided Postal Service Appointment Books 1737-1969.

They have also scanned original London wills at LMA from 1525 to 1858.

 

Find My Past - http://www.findmypast.co.uk

They have added 128,001 records covering 1802-1846 from the East Kent Burial Index.  Also the 1861 Worldwide Army Index is based on paylists held by TNA in WO10-12, and covers approximately 98% of the 'other ranks' who were serving in 1861 - about 245,000 men in all, or around 2% of the male population.
Another military dataset added has over half a million militia members in the Militia Service Records 1806-1915 from TNA WO96.

With the SoG they have loaded The Business Index to British shopkeepers, business people and their companies. The initial source material is a series of books published in the 1890s.

 

The Genealogist – http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk

This is the only major site that doesn't use the FamilySearch transcription of the 1881 England & Wales census, so try finding those missing relatives in their index.

 

Marriage Locator - http://www.marriage-locator.co.uk/
This website, set up by the Guild of One-Name Studies, enables you to interpret the Marriage Index created by the General Register Office for England and Wales and possibly determine the church where your ancestors were married.

 

FamilySearch - https://www.familysearch.org/

Using their index to the 1911 census, the table includes the place of birth, unlike the official 1911 website and FindMyPast, and if you enter a surname, but no forename, the results will be listed with members of the same household shown consecutively. 

For help in tracing relatives after 1911, see Peter Calver’s article on Lost Cousins

http://lostcousins.com/newsletters/may11news.htm

 

Black Sheep Index - http://www.blacksheepindex.co.uk/

The website that hosts the Black Sheep Index and many other unique indexes
has recently been updated.  Worth a search.

 

DVDs of books and parish register transcripts - http://www.flatcapsandbonnets.com/

This site has compilations of dozens of books which have all been made searchable, something you won't necessarily find when you download an online book.  The Kent disk has 33 items.

 

Other websites mentioned in this Journal

Page 5

http://www.crossingthewhiteline.com/index.htm

Page 5

http://www.doverwarmemorialproject.org.uk/index.htm

Page 22

http://www.angloboerwar.com/imperial-units/542-city-imperial-volunteers

Page 28

http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Museum_of_Freemasonry

Page 28

http://www.owf.org.uk

Page 28

http://www.freemasonry.london.museum/

 

Vol 24, No 4:  June 2011

http://www.connectedhistories.org/

Connected Histories brings together a range of digital resources related to early modern and nineteenth century Britain with a single federated search that allows sophisticated searching of names, places and dates.  Some of the websites included require payment, but free ones include the Charles Booth Archive, London Lives and Proceedings of the Old Bailey (which has had significant new additions).

 

Ancestry - http://www.ancestry.co.uk

Ancestry have added parish registers for Liverpool and Dorset.  They have also much improved their search of the E&W Death Indexes.

 

Find My Past - http://www.findmypast.co.uk

They have released their death index for E&W from 1837 to 2006, integrated with the overseas and army death indexes, to match the indexes for births and marriages.

The London Probate index now includes names beginning with G to Z.

They have combined with Eneclann to set up FMP Ireland - http://www.findmypast.ie/

 

The Genealogist – http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk

They have started a series of Poll Book transcripts including Kent.

 

Deceased Online  - https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch
New additions include Romford, Essex.
 

Scotland’s People – http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

The 1911 Census was released on 5 April.

 

Kent County Council Libraries - http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/kccl

You can now search 19th Century newspapers and Illustrated London News at home using your KCC Library card number.

 

New Family Search - http://www.familysearch.org

This document will help you adjust to the new version which now includes Batch number searches - http://broadcast.lds.org/elearning/FHD/Local_Support/Consultant/Interactive_Guide/Adjusting_to_the_new_version.pdf

 

Following our visit to the Masonic Library and Museum in Canterbury, note that the London Museum has completed a survey of the whereabouts and types records held by record offices, Masonic lodges and chapters throughout England and Wales. The survey lists records created by lodges and chapters in the course of their activities: minute books, financial records and membership records etc. It also includes the surviving lists of members of Masonic lodges submitted to the county magistrates and
held among quarter sessions records under the 1799 Unlawful Societies Act.

http://www.freemasonry.london.museum/

 

The National Archives.  Discussion on changing the 30 year rule to 20 years -

http://issuu.com/yourfamilyhistory/docs/unlocking_our_national_heritage

 

Unclaimed Funds - https://ubi.courtfunds.gov.uk/unclaimedbalancesindex/

Only a surname is required to search for funds held “in Chancery”.

 

Hearth Tax returns - http://british-history.ac.uk/catalogue.aspx?gid=54

British History Online has recently made available free transcriptions of Hearth
Tax returns covering London, Westminster, and Middlesex.

 

P&O Heritage - http://www.poheritage.com/our-archive

The Open Library - http://openlibrary.org
24 million books with downloadable text for over a million.


British in India - British Library http://indiafamily.bl.uk/UI/Home.aspx
and FIBIS  - http://www.new.fibis.org/

Military Archive Research - http://militaryarchiveresearch.com/
A basic introduction to research.

 

Newspaper map - http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/

Put your mouse on a city anywhere in the world and the newspaper
headlines pop up.  Double click on the city and the newspaper page gets larger.  You can read the entire paper on some if you click on the right place.
And this site changes every day with the publication of new editions of the paper.

 

Copyright - http://www.ipo.gov.uk/c-basicfacts.pdf
Advice on what you may copy or publish.

Capital Punishment in Britain - http://capitalpunishmentuk.org/
For the ghoulish, a history and list of all executions

Young Immigrants to Canada -
http://retirees.uwaterloo.ca/~marj/genealogy/homeadd.html
Info on children sent to Canada between 1869 and 1930. 

The database is at Library & Archives Canada -
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/home-children/index-e.html

Industrial and Reformatory Schools -
http://www.missing-ancestors.com/INDUSTRIAL%20REFORM%

20LINK%20NO%201%20TABLE%20OF%20CONTENTS%20.htm
List of schools and some pupils.

National Directory of Community Archives - http://www.communityarchives.org.uk/
Find if there is a community group for the area you are researching.

 

BBC 1986 Domesday Project - http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/domesday

In 1986 the BBC launched an ambitious project to record a snapshot of
everyday life across the UK for future generations. A million volunteers
took part.  But the technology used very quickly became obsolete.
Now, 25 years later, following specialist data conversion, you can explore the archive online and see the pictures.


Regnal Year calculators –

http://www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk/cal/medcal.shtml#regn
http://people.albion.edu/imacinnes/calendar//Regnal_Years.html
http://www.combs-families.org/combs/reference/regnal.htm
http://www.genproxy.co.uk/king_queen_reign_dates_regnal.htm
https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Regnal_Years_in_England
http://nslegislature.ca/legc/regnal.htm

 

File format conversion - http://www.online-convert.com/

Free website that converts files from hundreds of formats to any of hundreds of other formats.

 

1723 Oaths of Allegiance –

http://edwardvallance.wordpress.com/2008/02/14/finding-georgian-ancestors/

Information on these oaths and how to use them.

 

Electoral Rolls 2003 to 2011 – http://tracegenie.com

For only £2.95 you can obtain unlimited access for 24 hours to help trace living relatives.

 

Change of Name Index – http://www.archive.org/details/indextochangesof00philrich

Originally published by Phillimore in 1905 and recently on CD, this is an alphabetical index of changes of names which resulted from an Act of Parliament from 1760 to 1901.  Indexed by both new name and former name.

 

Acts of Parliament of interest to Genealogists – http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~framland/acts/actind.htm

Part of the useful website created by Guy Etchells.

 

Vol 24, No 3:  March 2011

 

The National Archives - www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

The catalogue now includes more than 20,000 soldiers' records held at the Kilmainham Hospital in Dublin from 1783-1822, WO119.  The images will be available on FMP later this year.  The Hospital administered some pensions until 1822, when Chelsea Hospital took on the administration of out-pensioners from both establishments, WO97 already on FMP.

 

Ancestry - http://www.ancestry.co.uk

In conjunction with TNA, Ancestry have released the London Land Tax Valuations 1910 for the City and Paddington.

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1735

 

They have also released Military and Naval Medals and Awards Rolls 1793 onwards, WO100 and ADM171 –

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1686  http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1687and http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1913

 

Find My Past - http://www.findmypast.co.uk

FMP are taking over from Origins http://www.origins.net in hosting the SoG databases such as Boyd’s Marriage Index.

 

Origins - http://www.origins.net

They now have the Surrey Marriage Index to 1837 covering all rural Surrey and some of Metropolitan Surrey.

 

The Genealogist – http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk

They have added numerous Directories and 6 months’ of The Illustrated London News from 1890 (more to follow).

 

Deceased Online  - https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch
They have added 800,000 new burials and cremations from St Pancras and Islington cemeteries in London. These two conjoined cemeteries together form the largest cemetery in London.  50,000 more will be added within the next few months.

Further additions include Broxbourne, Hertfordshire and Scotland.
 

Scotland’s People – http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

The 1911 Census will be released on 5 April.

 

British Library - http://portico.bl.uk/census

Until the end of May there is a free exhibition about the Census.

 

GRO Districts - http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/documents/digitalasset/dg_176223.pdf
This is the GRO's own district number list and covers 1837-1851, 1852- Jun 1946, Sep 1946-Mar 1965, Jun 1965 - Mar 1974, Jun 1974 - Dec 1992 and Mar 1993-Dec 1996, giving the date of creation and abolition where relevant.

 

City of London Livery Companies –  an introduction

http://www.combs-families.org/combs/records/england/lnd/livery.htm  

and a list of companies with sources and a brief history
http://www.combs-families.org/combs/records/england/lnd/livery02.htm

 

Last Chance to Read - http://www.lastchancetoread.com

A new site with images of old newspapers, including some editions of the Kentish Gazette and The Kentish Post or Canterbury News-Letter.

 

Online Parish Clerks – the Kent site has moved to http://www.kent-opc.org

The Folkestone page is at http://www.kent-opc.org/Parishes/Folkestone.html

and provides various links including digitised trade directories etc.

One link is to a table of parishes showing whether each is included in IGI, BVRI2, Boyd, Pallot and NBI - http://www.ancestrysolutions.com/RPAKent.html

 

Historical Directories - http://www.historicaldirectories.org
Still available - a searchable digital library of local and trade directories for England and Wales.

 

Public Houses - http://deadpubs.co.uk/KentPubs/kent-Index.shtml

Not just dead pubs, but villages and transcripts of trade directories.

 

Surname matching : Steve Archer has a review of surname matching algorithms -
http://www.archersoftware.co.uk/nominex/searchmethods.htm
which includes a critique of NameX used on Origins.  Nominex is used in NBI3.
http://www.archersoftware.co.uk/nominex/namex.htm

Cloud computing, or storing your family tree online; a review by Dick Eastman -http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2010/12/from-the-in-box-which-online-software-to-use.html

 

Reproduction WW2 memorabilia, suggested by Peter Calver of Lost Cousins –

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Children-War-World-replica-Memorabilia/dp/B0025BEPUI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys&qid=1299940074&sr=8-1

 

And finally, a little late, the New Year thoughts of the Chairman of the Federation –

http://www.ffhs.org.uk/ezine/articles/newyear2011.php