The Hampshire Family Historian | Vol.48 No.4 | March 2022

Local Group Programmes

Overall, it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening in good company for those who attended. (January) My Grandma's Birthday Book by Fiona Ranger 'Grandma' being Fiona's grandmother Violet. The Birthday Book was started in 1909 and Violet recorded the dates of Birth / Marriage / Death of various members of the family. Coming across this kind of personal record within a family is, like finding the Family Bible, an extremely useful tool for a Genealogist / Family Historian. Violet's Birthday Book also included dates commemorating events such as the Battles of Waterloo and Trafalgar, the deaths of Wellington and Nelson, plus details of events in the lives of Queen Victoria's children as well as those of King Edward 7th and King George 5th. Using the names and dates in her Grandma Violet's book, Fiona then knew who to look for in the Census Records, BMD Records, Parish Registers, 1939 Register, TNA and even newspapers. This enabled her to put a great deal of flesh onto the bare bones of just names and dates that we all started our research with. Some of the more memorable details Fiona imparted to us involved twin sisters Peggy and Betty, born in June 1915 but who died as four-year-olds within days of each other in 1920, believed from Spanish Flu. That must have been almost unbearable grief for the family at the time but perhaps it is a good thing that the young girls are still being remembered today. There was a grandfather of Fiona's injured in the First World War, a cousin killed in the Second World War and, in between all these world shattering events, another family member died aged only 17 years - of what appears to be congenital Heart Disease (at 17!) Another child, Sybil, sadly died aged only 2 years old. Many of us Family Historians have uncovered similar details of childhood mortality in their own research which confirms the Social History of the time in that so many children died in childhood and so many people died at a young age or from War, even in the past one hundred years or so. Finally, on a lighter note(!), at various points in Fiona's Grandma's family story, a person's occupation was given as that of a "Wharfinger". One such person had their employment clarified in one document as a "Portsmouth Corporation Wharfinger". Fiona said it was someone who was in charge of a Wharf: in her ancestor's case he was in charge of a wharf at Camber Docks in Portsmouth, and that that person recorded the landing of goods and cargo from ships. Apparently, according to my Google Search after the presentation, a "Wharfinger" today would be called the Harbourmaster. Now it makes sense! Forthcoming Meetings:

March 17th April 21st May 19th June 16th

Portsmouth - Harlots, Dung & Glory 1100-1790

Andrew Negus

Pubs & Publicans

Kay Lovell Dave Annal

Bringing it up to Date (via Zoom) Quarantining and Social Distancing in the Tudor Times

Cheryl Butler

178