The Hampshire Family Historian | Vol.49 No.2 | September 2022

Local Group Programmes

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.

Reports by Ros Boon and Colin Dawe: (February) Our Embarrassing Ancestors – Janet Few. (June) My Czech Roots or how I conquered lockdown – Margaret Bowman. Margaret is our HGS Membership Secretary and instrumental in the running of our Andover Group. A sizeable audience gathered to hear her speak about how she had obviously enjoyed a very fruitful and fulfilling time over the last many months of research. She amazed us all with what she had found about her paternal line whose roots stem from the Austro Hungarian Empire. She first discovered her father’s baptism of 1910 in Vienna and the record gave the names of, not only his parents, but also his grandparents whom she tracked back to a very rural part of what is now the Czech Republic. The village his parents inhabited may have only been tiny, but the record-keeping was astonishing – and is all free to search online. A critical aid for Margaret is that a house number is recorded with every recorded entry, be it birth, marriage or death, and so keeping track of her ancestors was made substantially easier with this extra point of reference, especially given that one was obliged to notify the authorities of any move. If only all European research was this easy. Ros Boon (July) The History and Mystery of Funerals – Sue Flipping Sue, a life celebrant, gave a very accomplished and well-researched talk; starting in prehistoric times and proceeding to customs of today. The Romans had noisy funerals with eulogies and music and status was reflected by the use of pottery, glass or lead urns and subsequent colour of their burnt bones. By the 17th century in England shrouds had to be woollen, not linen and punishable with £5 fine. Sue highlighted the Victorians’ obsession with death showing illustrations of the bizarre; namely Mourning Warehouses for clothing and taking photographs of the dead fully dressed. Sue concluded with today's excesses of a deceased’s ashes being made into jewellery and vinyl records and the use of themed coffins reflecting life interests. The audience found her talk most fascinating; I certainly did. Colin Dawe Forthcoming Meetings:

September 5th Mixing DNA Results with a Paper Trail

Dr Penny Walters

Members’ Meeting - our own DNA Experiences

October 3rd

November 7th Family History on the Internet December 5th The Dark Side of Christmas

Ian Waller Kay Lovell

84