The Hampshire Family Historian | Vol.48 No.3 | December 2021

Local Group Programmes

Ringwood We normally meet at 7.30 p.m. on the third Wednesday of every month at Greyfriars Community Centre, Christchurch Road, Ringwood. Visitors and new members are most welcome. We continue with Zoom, this is still very popular and gives us a chance to reach a wider audience, and most of our members prefer Zoom. (September) Quarantine and social distancing in Tudor Southampton – Cheryl Butler. This is something we are all used to! Plague, sweating sickness, the pox and the flu have all been here in the 16th century. The most feared was the plague which arrived in England in 1348 from China via Southampton. People had to stay at home so quarantining was used. Henry VIII issued travel passes if you wanted to move you had to prove you were healthy. Front line workers i.e. bearers and keepers who collected and buried the bodies were paid a 1/- a day. Masks were also worn probably against the smell and even overalls, gloves and full face masks. Malaria was endemic in Southampton up to the 16th century. This is a very interesting talk about how our ancestors coped with pandemics. (October) The Pursuit and Sinking of The Bismark. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the sinking of the Bismark. May1941 saw the Bismark (October) Courts of Chancery – Colin Moretti. We welcomed Colin Moretti back again for his talk ‘Research in the Court of Chancery: an introduction to Chancery Records’. He began with a brief history and then began delving into the records that are available for the family historian. He explained that the documents themselves are written on velum on rolls and can be cumbersome to use and dusty! The great advantage is that they are written in English. Colin explained that the kind of cases that you would find would be disputes between people and they could include cases about inheritance, marriage settlements, debts and bankruptcy to name a few. The information contained within a case may include vital information about a person, accounts, where they lived, details of wills, mortgages and much more. We were guided through the numerous documents that make up a case and then on to the very complicated method of looking at indexes to find the relevant record. The English records are held at The National Archives (TNA) under their series C (Chancery) although some earlier ones may be held by the Palatinate courts and Welsh ones at the National Library of Wales. You can search on TNA’s catalogue Discovery to find cases, but we were advised that not every name that is relevant is recorded you have to physical view the case papers. Forthcoming meetings: Contact: Alison Davis or 07806 985671 Email: ringwood@hgs-online.org.uk December No Meeting 2022 – No details available

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