HGS Family History Groups
Although most HGS group meetings are in-person meetings, some are held via Zoom, so please do check to see the type of meeting.
For meetings that are held via Zoom only, please contact the appropriate Group Organiser no later than 24 hours prior to the talk to be added to the invitation list. Remember to include your membership number or indicate if you are a guest.
If you plan on travelling to an in-person meeting where you are not already on the Group Organiser’s contact list, we suggest that you contact the Group Organiser to let them know: this way, if the meeting is cancelled (e.g. due to speaker unavailability) they will be able to let you know, saving you an unnecessary trip.
We meet regularly to share, learn, exchange ideas and information, as well as to help us each further explore our family history projects. Why not come along and see for yourself?
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- You can attend the meetings of any of our 9 active Hampshire-based groups.
- The International Group meetings are held every two months via Zoom: these meetings are on alternate months to the National Group meetings.
- The National Group meetings are held every two months via Zoom: these meeting are on alternate months to the International Group meetings.
- Visit a Group’s page (via the menu on the right) to see their programme of talks, news and articles. Contact a Group Organiser using the form at the bottom of their Group page.
- Come and meet like-minded people. HGS Group Meetings are free to members and prospective members.
- They are a good way to gain some new insights on how to further explore your family history.
- Whether you are a beginner or an expert, with a family from within or outside of Hampshire, you will always be welcome and find someone who has something new and interesting to share.
HGS Group Locations
Click on a pin for the address and directions.
HGS Family History Group and Society Events for the next 3 months
To attend a Zoom talk offered by any of the groups, please contact the appropriate group organiser no later than 24 hours prior to the talk. Please include your membership number or indicate if you are a guest.
- March 20, 2024 - Ringwood Group: Prison and Criminal records - Gill Blanchard - via Zoom
- March 21, 2024 - Winchester Group: Family Secrets and Lies: Uncovering the Truth with DNA - Toni Neobard - via Zoom
- March 27, 2024 - Basingstoke Group: Members' Evening - Interesting Deaths
- March 28, 2024 - Fareham Evening Group: Members’ Evening
- April 6, 2024 - International Group: [BST] The Birth of the English Parish Church: from Romans to Normans - Frances Hurd
Why do we have parish churches at all, and how did they develop? Were there local churches when the Romans were here? Are there any links between the sites, chosen for Christian churches, and the pagan sites used for worship in earlier times? All these and many more questions are answered in this fully illustrated talk. Discover what a Saxon church looked like inside and out, and what form worship took for ordinary villagers. This talk is relevant to any part of England but draws most of its illustrations from Hampshire, Sussex and Wiltshire.
- April 9, 2024 - Fair Oak Group: The History of Chandlers Ford - John Lankester
- April 10, 2024 - Gosport Group: To be confirmed
- April 11, 2024 - Fleet & Farnborough Group: ABM followed by an evening of Queries & Conundrums (plus Melvyn’s tragedies!)
Do you need help with your research? Or can you show us how you solved a conundrum?
- April 11, 2024 - Andover Group: Migration: When we get Stuck - Laurie Page
- April 17, 2024 - Ringwood Group: My ancestor was on the 1921 census, well they should have been. - John Hanson - via Zoom
This talk shows how much more information there is to find on the 1921 census.
- April 18, 2024 - Winchester Group: Members’ Evening
- April 24, 2024 - Basingstoke Group: Lying Bastards - David Annal
- April 25, 2024 - Fareham Evening Group: Winchester: Bishops, Buildings and Bones Part 4 - Andrew Negus
The final talk in the series on Winchester covering the period 1850 - present.
- May 1, 2024 - National Group: Pursuing Surnames - Julie Goucher
Exploring the fascinating subject of surnames – types, geographical spread, why genealogists begin surname research & how to and why build a surname project. We explore what a surname study is and why pursuing one can be helpful in researching your own genealogy. We look at the history of surnames, the first steps in beginning such a study and considerations to bear in mind as you get underway. We look at the best way of proceeding and getting the most from the pursuance of a global study and why it is important to aim for a global study.
- May 8, 2024 - Gosport Group: The Percy Topliss Affair - Paul Stickler
- May 9, 2024 - Andover Group: Members’ Evening
- May 9, 2024 - Fleet & Farnborough Group: The Victorian Pharmacy (kill or cure?) - Judy Hill
The development of health care when illness was managed rather than cured.
- May 14, 2024 - Fair Oak Group: What did you do during the war, Mum? - Dave Allport
- May 15, 2024 - Ringwood Group: Four Centuries of Stories from the Bankes Archive - David Beardsley
Stories are told about items from the archives that are now in Dorchester Record Office from Corfe Castle to Kingston Lacey when the estate was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1981.
- May 16, 2024 - Winchester Group: Bursledon Brickworks - Richard Newman
- May 23, 2024 - Fareham Evening Group: Jane Austen’s Best Friend - A Talk by Jane Glennie
Travel back in time to Southampton 1809 and meet Martha Lloyd as she gossips about the Austen family.
- June 5, 2024 - International Group: [BST] The New Forest: a landscape shaped by the ancient tradition of commoning - Suzanne Kempe
From the times of William the Conqueror this beautiful area has been grazed by commoners’ livestock with the result that it is home to one of the most important heathland, ancient woodland and mire landscapes to be found in Europe. This is a fully illustrated talk, using Suzanne’s own spectacular photographs, looking at the New Forest throughout the seasons of the year and features how the livestock are vital for the survival of many rare species - both flora and fauna. In particular we learn about the importance of 'commoning' and other traditional methods of maintaining this very special landscape.
- June 11, 2024 - Fair Oak Group: Shopping in the High Street in the 1940s & 50s - John Pitman
- June 12, 2024 - Gosport Group: Members’ Evening
- June 13, 2024 - Andover Group: The Search for Great Grandmother’s Farm (In Germany) - Brian Margetson
- June 13, 2024 - Fleet & Farnborough Group: The Selborne & Headley Workhouse Riots – John Owen Smith
Why did the riots take place? A look at the dramatic events of two days in November 1830 and their aftermath.
- June 19, 2024 - Ringwood Group: The magnet of the Cod - Mary Baldwin
The story of Ringwood`s connection to the Newfoundland cod trade.
- June 20, 2024 - Winchester Group: Portsmouth Part 2 - Andrew Negus
- June 27, 2024 - Fareham Evening Group: Op Overload - D Day Landings - Jeremy Prescott
This presentation commemorates the 80th Anniversary in 2024 of Op Overlord ; the context and time line leading to the invasion, senior commanders of all nations involved, the plan, deception of the invasion, rehearsals, logistics (Mulberry Harbour, Pluto pipe), the invasion and its aftermath.
- July 3, 2024 - National Group: Everything you wanted to know about heraldry – but were afraid to ask! - Chris Broom
- July 9, 2024 - Fair Oak Group: A History of Hampshire in 10 Objects – Part 4: Delving Deeper - Tony Cross
- July 10, 2024 - Gosport Group: To be confirmed
- July 11, 2024 - Fleet & Farnborough Group: From Post To Person – The results of our postcard project of 2023
The longer talks that have come out of the 2023 project.
- July 17, 2024 - Ringwood Group: English Civil War: local places, local people - Neil Mclocklin
- July 18, 2024 - Winchester Group: The History of Sparsholt College - Dr John Lander