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

Local Group Programmes

Contact: Alison Davis or 07806 985671 Email: ringwood@hgs-online.org.uk

Ringwood We normally meet at 7.30 p.m. on the third Wednesday of every month at Ringwood Meeting

House, 22 Meeting House Lane, Ringwood, BH24 1BY. Visitors and new members 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. (March) Female Inebriates in Victorian England – Jane Fox Jane`s interest was sparked while doing some family research on the 1891 census for Southam Street, Kensington. No 99 was listed as a Home for Female Inebriates with 9 residents. Like many family historians Jane got interested and has done a lot of research into the effects of alcoholism especially with regards to women and their families. Residents had to be self-funded and were supposed to reside at the home for a year and have total abstinence from any form of alcohol. Jane has researched as far as possible the lives of all nine women at the address. An interesting talk with information on all the resources that were used. Forthcoming meetings:

No details available

Contact: Kay Lovell Email: romsey@hgs-online.org.uk Tel: 01794 515316

Romsey Meetings normally take place on the first Monday of the month (except Bank Holidays) at Crosfield Hall, Romsey, at 7.30 p.m. Newcomers are welcome. All meetings for the foreseeable future will by Zoom.

Ros Boon reports: (February) Our Embarrassing Ancestors – Janet Few. Our February Zoom meeting attracted 55 attendees, some from the opposite side of the world, and we were thoroughly engrossed by the evening's presentation. Janet opened proceedings by asking if we had ever felt the need to "airbrush a certain relative from the record?" and then posed the opposite question - has an ancestor ever ceased to be an embarrassment and instead become interesting and exciting? She spoke of the "kinds of behaviours which make you draw breath" such as having a slave owner, prostitute or deserter in the family, or perhaps tripping over incidents of disability, criminality or even witchcraft. She postulated that the era in which an incident took place will inevitably colour our judgment and observed that no history is free from bias. "Shame, stigma and embarrassment were the great social evils of the 19th century" she said, pointing out that what was acceptable then and now, is markedly different. It was a fascinating talk which engendered much thought and lengthy discussion afterwards.

36

Made with FlippingBook Digital Publishing Software