The Hampshire Family Historian | Volume 51 No.1 | June 2024

Local Group Programmes

Gosport Meetings are normally held on the second Wednesday of each month in the Scout Hut, Clayhall Road, Alverstoke, Gosport, Hants, PO12 2BY from 7.30-9.30.

Contact: Janet Heath Tel: 02392 522 827 Email: gosport@hgs-online.org.uk

(February) From Victorians to Elizabethans – Speaker Janet Few Report by Elayne Kenway

This was a very interesting talk about the transition from the Victorian period (19th & 20th Century) into the Elizabethan period (20th Century). So useful to add substance to your family history. There are still a lot of records closed and unavailable from the 20th Century which makes it difficult to research around your family history. This is the period of an increasing population that is ever more mobile and prosperous with developing industries and technology. Life was very different in 1950 to 1900 and there are is wealth of resources for genealogists to use. Not forgetting DNA of course. Here are some very useful ideas of resources to look at. For recent records, of ancestors who lived in the 21st & 20th Century, there are well known records such as: BMD, covering up to the present day. The GRO for certificate copies, that give additional info such as Mother’s maiden name back to 1837, siblings that died and witnesses’ names as well as addresses and occupations. Census Online websites such as FindMyPast also have related materials to the census such as enumerators list and some additional information. Census from 1921 show employers. Parish registers for baptisms, marriages, deaths, christenings and Banns. As time goes by there were less baptisms, more cremations, and less church marriages, so non-conformist records, cemetery records, gravestones transcripts become important. Military records, Overseas deaths, Wills/Probate, Newspapers with BMD columns, and Local news all become more prevalent and are now accessible online. For earlier 20 Century sources it is imperative to consider oral evidence of families, cousins and siblings before it is too late. Gather stories, heirlooms, working life, Family myths and relationships. Written Memoirs, perhaps family written or someone who lived in same village or town give an account of life at that time. Mass observation archive 1937 – 1950s and now from 1981. This is held at The Keep, Brighton, with some of it online now. Photographs, Family physical photographs as well as digital images. Sound Archive and Film Archive. The British Pathe British film, film UK, and others can be researched. Directories, There is information about a specific locality at the beginning of each section that can be very useful.

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