Author: Richard Backhouse

February 14, 2021

You may find details of your ancestors in the Births, Marriages and Deaths sections of local newspapers: Births may just be an announcement of a new baby’s arrival but, if your ancestor was ‘of the middling sort’, there may be more detail about the baby’s parentage Sometimes there are detailed reports of weddings, including what […] – read more…

February 14, 2021

Look for him in muster rolls but don’t always assume the first person you find with his name is actually him! Usually, however, if two soldiers in the regiment had the same name, the parish where each was born will be noted alongside his name which will help you identify your man. The General Service […] – read more…

February 14, 2021

In various formats, directories have been published for over 300 years and offer unrivalled information for both family and local historians. However, information gathering took some time. A directory dated 1871 was probably correct only in 1870 and even then should not be relied on too heavily as being precise, accurate or comprehensive. Ordinary working […] – read more…

February 1, 2021

What is the purpose of taking a census? It certainly was not originally intended to help would-be genealogists! Run by the Office of National Statistics [ONS] and completed every 10 years since 1801, this year it is on Sunday 21st March. They say they are making it easy for everyone to take part because you […] – read more…

January 25, 2021

Our research team at the University of Newcastle (Drs Shaw, Donnelly, Burke and Parkes from the School of Education) are conducting research into family history and DNA testing and its impacts on people’s understanding of themselves and their place in history, as well as some general demographic information. To this end, we are conducting an […] – read more…

January 22, 2021

Another “Really Useful Family History Show” is taking place on Saturday 10th April. Book your place for the price of £10. More than 20 inspiring speakers including Ian Waller, Penny Walters, Stephen Gill, and Janet Few. Recordings of talks will be available for seven days; there will be exhibitors; workshops and and online experts available. […] – read more…

January 21, 2021

‘The Family History Show Online’, sponsored by The Genealogist will take place on Saturday 20th February. Book your place for £8 now / on the day.  You will also get a FREE virtual goody bag on entry worth over £8! Talk topics include Occupations, Tracing Rural Ancestors and Working with your Autosomal DNA Test. Speakers […] – read more…

November 25, 2020

FamilySearch Announces RootsTech Connect 2021: A Free Global Virtual Event FamilySearch is thrilled to announce that the RootsTech 2021 conference previously planned for 3-6th February 2021, in Salt Lake City, Utah, will now be held on 25-27th February 2021, as a free, virtual event online. RootsTech Connect 2021 will enable attendees to participate from around the world and […] – read more…

November 23, 2020

During 2020 we have been hosting a series of free Scottish genealogy events, a series of conferences designed to help you trace your Scottish family tree. A highlight of the December 2020 Scottish Indexes Conference will be ‘Your Burning DNA Questions’, a presentation by one of Scotland’s leading genealogists, Michelle Leonard, which will answer DNA questions. […] – read more…

November 17, 2020

Hampshire Archives Trust – Talk About Hampshire Quakers – Rosemary Dunhill A HAT online talk on 24 November at 7pm – FREE! ‘A people not fit to breathe in English Aire’ Hampshire Quakers before the Toleration Act. Quaker beliefs reached Hampshire in about 1655, attracting supporters in many parts of the county. Their commitment and […] – read more…

November 16, 2020

Hello and greetings from Kensington and Chelsea libraries, I am writing to invite you to the London History Festival 2020, which we are this year running online – I hope you’ll find an event or two you might like and also, that you’ll help us promote the Festival by sending this invite to your members and/or […] – read more…

October 28, 2020

            Ten suggestions: Choose a scrapbook with pages that can be added to or reordered when new photos or titbits become available. Less is more: serious scrappers often shy away from multi-picture collages in favour of one or two dominant photos for a more dramatic and less chaotic effect. Select […] – read more…

October 14, 2020

If there’s one tip you should definitely take on board, it is this one… Indexes and transcriptions can be wonderful at directing you to the source record but you should always confirm the information by viewing the original for yourself. This is because transcriptions are sometimes incorrect; nor do they always include every detail. Parish […] – read more…

October 11, 2020

We’ve recently added 21 new products to our series of ‘Alan Godfrey Historical Maps’. See the whole collection at our online shop at https://www.hgs-familyhistory.com/shop/historical-maps These black and white reproductions of old Ordnance Survey maps are an invaluable resource for family historians.  They show towns and villages in detail, with individual buildings marked, as well as […] – read more…

October 6, 2020

The British have always had a reputation as a seafaring nation. This is unsurprising when you consider that in Britain it is impossible to be more than 60-70 miles from the sea, a distance that would have taken some of our ancestors no more than a couple of days to walk. During the British Empire, […] – read more…

October 2, 2020

When you are searching for the burial record of your ancestor, unlike the birth, marriage and death records, they are not recorded in any central database. You may find some information in the parish records, but graves can sometimes be difficult to find, so here are some hints and tips to help you locate them. […] – read more…

October 2, 2020

If your ancestors served in, but didn’t survive, World War I or World War II, their names may appear on a war memorial in the area where they lived. A Google search may reveal if there is a war memorial in their home town or village. Some villages and towns traced the names on the […] – read more…

September 29, 2020

Login required This year’s AGM will take place at at 11.30 am Saturday 10th October  using Zoom videoconferencing.  It should last about 45 minutes. Details of the 2020 AGM are in the September Journal and on this website in the members’ area. Anyone wishing to attend must email secretary@hgs-online.org.uk for a login to the meeting. We […] – read more…

September 9, 2020

The Hampshire Genealogical Society – Annual General Meeting NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the 46th Annual General Meeting of HGS will be held by Zoom videoconference at 11.30 am on Saturday 10th October 2020 to transact the following business. 1. Minutes of the previous meeting To be agreed and matters arising 2. Reports and Accounts […] – read more…

July 25, 2020

We are very pleased to let you know that we have been able to re-open this week following the prolonged lockdown period.  This is ahead of most, though not all, archive services across the country. Our new arrangements are quite different due to new distancing, hygiene and quarantining requirements, as might be expected. Please note […] – read more…

July 16, 2020

ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! It seems that AncestryDNA will be making changes meaning that 1000s of people who currently appear as DNA matches will disappear, as soon as 1st August (exact date not known). This is being reported from various sources, who attended a conference call with Ancestry. There are ways to keep some of these […] – read more…

June 9, 2020

Although there has been some relaxing of the lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic in the UK, we are still not allowed to meet in large numbers. In March, we advised groups that they should cancel all meetings until July at the earliest. Who knows when this will change? As you are probably aware, over […] – read more…

May 29, 2020

The National Archives (TNA) at Kew is currently closed to the public. While this continues, it is allowing people to download up to 50 digitised items per 30-day period free of charge. Usually the price is £3.50 per will. Only 10 items can be downloaded at a time, but when you have done so you […] – read more…

May 10, 2020

There is an HGS project of producing a DVD/memory stick for sale in the future containing photographs and details of Hampshire rural churches for sale by the HGS. The idea is to contain as many photos of the churches as possible so if any members would like to send copies of their own church photos […] – read more…

May 4, 2020

Wessex Film and Sound Archive / Hampshire Archives and LocalStudies VE Day online event. We hope you are keeping safe and well during the current situation, and have enjoyed 100 Days of Film and our social media posts. In common with many organisations, we are moving our planned VE / VJ Day event online, with […] – read more…

May 4, 2020

I have been inspired to share this story now because, at the time of writing, the world is in the grips of another pandemic: Coronavirus (Covid 19). In UK, we are in lock-down and there seems to be no end anytime soon. The fact that much of the world was suffering from similar circumstances a […] – read more…

April 30, 2020

1. When searching online, remember that ‘less is more’ try to enter as few details as possible on the search screen try different combinations of name, age and birthplace try searching using just the first name or just the surname 2. Try using wild cards to find those difficult names * stands for any number […] – read more…

April 30, 2020

Due to the continued uncertainty of the ‘Lockdown’ in the UK caused by the Covid-19 crisis, we wish to announce that the proposed 2020 Conference Day has been cancelled. I can confirm that the 2021 Conference Day (including AGM) will take place on Saturday 12th June 2021. Monies received for 2020 tickets already booked will be […] – read more…

April 24, 2020

In normal times, The National Archives at Kew is a great day out for Genealogists. It can be a bit daunting at first because of its size, but it is wonderful to go there and look at old documents that in some cases go back one thousand years. It is amazing to find an ancestor […] – read more…

April 17, 2020

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING DURING THE COVID-19 CRISIS?   Here in the UK, as is the case in other countries where we have HGS members, many of us have been in a state of ‘Lockdown’ for a number of weeks. So what have you been doing during this time? Have you used this as […] – read more…