The Hampshire Family Historian | Volume 50 No.1 | June 2023

Local Group Programmes

Hampshire Record Office, and reports of “Oldham Manslaughter”. It turned out this family member had murdered his mother. He was suffering from delirium and other illnesses that caused psychosis. A regular visitor, to these members’ sessions, said that in 1906 there were newspaper reports relating to someone being robbed by a lodger. The details were found in a Reading newspaper with court details. Using old newspaper reports was something several people recommended with Record Offices having archived copies on microfiche. Most newspapers will also have their own archives too, as researching through newspapers gives more colour to family research. There was evidence that when families hit hard times, they had lodgers to help with income and it was more common for people to share houses. Another contribution was the death certificate for a 2 x great grandfather who died in 1879 of Myelitis, sloughing, and syncopea ( chronic) . The group were asked if anyone had any idea of what this may have been/caused by as the individual causes sound horrible but must have been indicative of some underlying problem or disease. Some helpful comments were made, and the search for an answer will continue. A recently found blog was recommended. Genealogical Jude https://genealogyjude.com/ How people died can be important from understanding the socio-economic influences - with one member saying one of her relatives had died in 1879 of an inflammation of the spinal cord. We heard of the Dictionary of Medical Terms published in the 1800s which can unravel some such conditions. We were left with a conundrum from a regular visitor from Auckland, NZ about tracing a relation who died in Portsmouth in 1849 but she needs help in finding where the burial took place. Hopefully one of the group will come up with an answer. (February) WWI and Spanish Flu from women's perspective – Ian Porter, a novelist and London Guide We are so used to hearing about men's experiences, yet 50% of the population were back in England, and doing their bit too. With man power depleted, the Board of Trade asked women to take on men's work, firstly unmarried women and then by March 1915, married women were also asked to take on jobs. The men that were still around were in the supervisory roles, with women seen as unskilled labour. Consequently, they could be paid less than a man would be paid. Women left domestic service, the main female employment prior to the war, and took up these jobs which offered more independence. They had money and some free time. Work in munitions was very necessary, and publicity photos showed women enjoying this work. However, most of this was propaganda and the work was hard, 12 hour shifts, and dangerous. Food production was also affected, especially by the increasing numbers of birds eating the crops because there were no "Shooting Parties" allowed during the war; ammunition was need elsewhere and the 'beaters' had all gone to war. The Government resorted to using POWs and men from HM Prisons to go into farming. The Women's Land Army was formed. For most of the war, the UK imported 60% of its food. Inflation for some food was rampant, with meat costing 250% more than in 1914. Only 1 teaspoonful of sugar was allowed per

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