The Hampshire Family Historian | Vol.49 No.1 | June 2022

Local Group Programmes

census, which is a snapshot of England & Wales used to determine policy direction for the ensuing decade, the 1939 Register was the basis for the production of identity and ration cards as well as an aid to the organisation of resources following the declaration of war. But though its primary use was to be limited in duration it would go on to remain a working document for nearly 60 years, far longer than any census. Peter took us through not just why, but how it was organised, what happened once the war was over, and how errors crept in during the mammoth process of transcription. He also explained what additional material is available on FMP that links to the Register. So once the lure of 1921 has faded, give 1939 another chance. (February) Dating Old Photographs – Steve Gill Though Steve started as a photographer 50 years ago, it is the last 20 years he has spent as a restorer of other people’s photographs that has given him an insight into how we can date images. The aim of his talk was to make us look beyond the main subject of the image and he began not in the way you would expect in order to emphasis this. He then took us through the various stages he uses to identify and date photographs starting with the photographic techniques available and the images each technique produced, before expanding this to the image itself. To Steve, photographs are social documents and every picture tells a story so we should look not only at the content but also at the context. For those who are interested in furthering their knowledge Steve, who is a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, has produced two books; The Family Detective; and Dating by Design; with a third due to be published. (March) From Grub Street to Fleet Street – Bob Clarke Bob’s love of newspapers began with a peek under the lino in his childhood bedroom. There he discovered a layer of old newspapers and a lifelong passion was born. Newspapers today are now seen by some as an outdated medium but they were cutting edge when they began and this was the world that Bob wanted to take us to. The newspapers that most interest him are those from the 17th through to the 19th centuries and he had plenty of examples to show us starting with those that were all about Parliament and consequently not very edifying, to the ones that came later with conjecture and scurrilous gossip! He covered attempts to supress the industry, how the papers made money (it was not just advertising and sales) and the rise of the investigative journalist, many of whom would go on to become well known authors. But he did not just look at the London papers, he also looked at those in the provinces and how these would adapt from covering national and economic news to focusing on their local patch. To Bob, newspapers reflect the social and economic times and he supplied us with amusing anecdotes including an advertisement about ‘ulcers on your privates’! Bob clearly loves to follow up some of the stories that he finds and has published a book ‘From Grub Street to Fleet Street’ in 2010. Forthcoming Meetings:

The Real Downton Abbey

June 9th

Ian Porter

No details available of later meetings

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