The Hampshire Family Historian | Volume 51 No.4 | March 2025

Local Group Programmes

(January) Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 – Judy Hill Saw the return of Judy who brought us up to date with the passing of the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 - posing the question of this being a deterrent. Judy spoke to the group last year and told of life before the amendment. A significant feature of the New Poor Law was the view that poverty was largely self-inflicted and there was a need to make a distinction between the deserving and undeserving poor. To discourage dependency, workhouse conditions were worst than the lowest standard of the independent labourer. The Poor Law 1834 laid down centrally every detail of help to be given. The Act was designed to reduce costs and guide local Boards of Guardians. The parish workhouse was managed locally and provided a mini welfare state, with the rate set by the local Parish. Forthcoming Meetings:

Using Newspapers for Family Research

March 20th April 17th May 15th

Denise Bates by Zoom

Women’s Land Army A Wiltshire Wheelwright

Dr John Lander, at Littleton Hall Duncan Eves, at Littleton Hall

Contact: Organiser: Kay Lovell Email: international@hgs-online.org.uk

All meetings are via Zoom and at various UK times to allow overseas members to join in. International Group (November) Writing Your Family’s History – Jane Gulliford Lowes

This proved to be a popular topic and over 60 members joined this Zoom session. Jane began by explaining that what she had to say was merely suggestion as to how to approach writing and sharing our family history. She stressed that there is no right, nor wrong way to go about it! Her own approach is to write the history in the style of a novel. Always remember the basics: who are you writing for, is your information correct, do you have too much information? Rather than try to write about all the people in your family tree, pick one favourite, or most interesting, individual as a starting point. Jane suggests never starting boringly at the beginning of an ancestor’s life. Decide on the ‘angle’ you wish to take. The three main ways she employs are: through a family object or heirloom, through a significant place or building, through an event. Try to paint a picture with words. The further you go back in time, the more difficult it becomes to tease out the characters fully. Fill in the gaps by adding context to their lives; e.g. referring to international, national or local events; describing daily life at the time; using an industrial background of where they worked or describing their job or trade. Those with military ancestors can flesh out their story using military service and campaign records, wartime and home front history accounts.

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