Gill Blanchard: Genealogist Family Researcher Historian Tutor Author

Using History to Promote Businesses and Local Tourism

Norwich Castle which Emma of Norwich held under siege for three months in 1075, after she and her husband organised a revolt against King William (the Conqueror) at their wedding feast. The castle is also home to the world renowned butterfly collection donated by local explorer and scientist, Margaret Elizabeth Fountaine (1862-1940).

It continues to be a busy year for me and my team. I've been working on a range of family, local history and house/property research projects. One of my recent clients was the King William IV Inn and Restaurant at Sedgeford in Norfolk. I researched the history of the Inn and produced a written history for their visitors to read, whilst my assistant Lauren Orton created some display material for owners, Lili and Nick Skerritt to use in the public areas. The King William IV celebrates its 175th birthday this year with a party on the 23rd of June launching their new displays and raising money for the local church and Astro fund with jazz, food and charity raffle from 6.30pm. If you would like to attend tickets cost £23.50.

http://www.thekingwilliamsedgeford.co.uk/index.html

Two related aspects of my business many people are unaware of are ancestral tourism and historical walks and talks. One of my recent favourites was the Norwich's Women in History walk for International Women's Day events in March. The walk was organised in partnership with Gender Equality Norfolk and Norwich (GENN) and Norfolk Netwalking groups. On a beautiful evening our group started from Norwich Cathedral at the Edith Cavell statue then meandered along Castle Meadow past Norwich Castle, down Opie Street, along London Street to Elm Hill then Magdalene Street and Colegate. Along the way I introduced them to some of the fascinating women associated with Norwich and their contributions and links to revolt, social and political reforms, acts of heroism, nonconformism, scientific discoveries and explorations, suffragettes and musical innovations.

Who Do You Think You Are Live 2011 and AGRA

The Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA) is the only professional body in the UK whose members have to prove their competence to join. I helped at the AGRA stand at WDYTYA Live in February where the group had a very busy three days talking to people about careers in genealogy and helping people find and choose a professional researcher to conduct work for them. I also attended my first AGRA AGM this month where I was elected to the council. Both were a great opportunity to meet other members and associates and I look forward to being involved.

As well as helping at the AGRA stand I was once again one of the Society of Genealogists speakers at WDYTYA Live  My talk on ‘Norfolk Ancestors: An Insiders Guide’ which took place on the Friday afternoon was full and it was great to talk to so many people afterwards and at the show generally.

What’s Happening in Archives and Online

Changes at local archives in the last few months include the Cambridgeshire archives opening all day, on one Saturday each month. At Cambridge record office this is every third Saturday whilst Huntingdon record office opens every second Saturday. Booking is essential and you can order documents in advance up to 12:45pm the day before.

http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/leisure/archives

The three Suffolk record offices no longer produce original documents on a Saturday unless you order them in advance. This is a retrograde step as many researchers won’t necessarily know they need an original document until they are in the middle of a piece of research.

Government and council cutbacks will have an impact on all archives, with those in East Anglia having to make significant savings. At the moment there has been no impact on opening hours at archive centres but there will be changes in library opening times which will affect people’s ability to access the free online resources they provide.

Good news from Norfolk Record Office is the granting of UN Memory of the World status to the medieval records of the St. Giles Hospital (Great Hospital) in Norwich by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. The Great Hospital, as it is commonly known, was founded around 1249 and is still in use today, meaning it has provided unbroken care for elderly people for over 760 years. As well as being a fascinating complex of buildings architecturally, the records are the fullest and most important set of medieval hospital records in Britain. They provide fascinating insights into the social history of care for the elderly as well as useful genealogical information. The archive will now be listed on the UNESCO UK Memory of the World Register, an online catalogue that helps promote the UK’s documentary heritage across the world. The UK Register can be seen at:

www.unesco.org.uk/ukregister

Professor Carole Rawcliffe of the University of East Anglia is the world’s expert on these records. Professor Rawcliffe and her medical history students have been working on the Great Hospital and other pre-modern English hospitals for over 15 years. You can see a series of 3D computer models developed from their work which recreate the pre-Reformation hospital on the Virtual Past website. This also explains the history of the hospital and includes a selection of related maps, plans, manuscripts (with translations), photographs and drawings.

http://www.virtualpast.co.uk/the-great-hospital.php

Sponsored Cycle Ride

I will be taking part in the Norwich 50 cycle ride on today (5th of June) from Norwich to Blickling Hall. I am raising money for Norwich Door to Door, a dial a ride charity for the elderly and disabled. Many thanks to those who sponsored me. How much we've raised can be seen at:

http://www.justgiving.com/Gill-Blanchard

My House History Book

After a few delays and with thanks to my very forbearing publishers, I am continuing to work on this. Publication is now expected to be in the spring of 2012. If anyone has any interesting architectural features, documents or stories associated with their homes they would like featured in my book please get in touch.

Architectural historian Tony Eggleston explains the history of the stunning Art Nouveau Royal Arcade in Norwich to the house history students on their tour. The Royal Arcade was designed in 1899 by local architect George Skipper who also designed Surrey House (headquarters of Norwich Union) and Cromer’s Hotel de Paris. Tony encourages the class to look at the influence of such buildings and designs on domestic architecture.

Courses and Workshops

The house history workshops run in Norwich have been a great success and it has been a real pleasure co-teaching with architectural historian, Dr. Sarah Edwards. Our last workshop is in June but we have plans to run more in 2012. One of our field trips was an architectural tour of Norwich, led by local expert, Tony Egglestone.

In the meantime the Norwich Architectural History Group (Norwich AHG) group run by Sarah and other present and former UEA lecturers in art, architecture and history has a programme of talks and walks around Norfolk and Norwich planned for this summer and autumn. Coming soon is a taster session with Gerald Randall on Practical Church Exploration on July 16th at Bedingham and Woodton. The sessions are composed of an introductory walk round the first church followed by two hours of theoretical exploration, a lunch break and a two further hours at a second church in the afternoon. The cost of a day session is £10 a head.

For those of you who develop a passion for church exploration Gerald will be running a further more in-depth course in the autumn term through the WEA on Thursday mornings.  For more details contact Sarah Edwards on norwichahg@googlemail.com

Online Courses with Pharos Tutors

Write Your Own Family History

Book writing and research commitments mean I won’t be running as many local face-to-face courses and workshops as usual. However, my Writing Your Family History workshops return to the Society of Genealogists in July and August. The workshops do not have to be taken as a whole course, each session can be attended as astand-alone tutorial.

• Saturday, 16 July 2011, 2-5pm - Writing Family History (pt2) Expanding your family History

• Saturday, 23 July 2011, 2-5pm - Writing Family History (pt3) Developing your Writing Further

• Saturday, 13 Aug 2011, 2-5pm - Writing Family History (pt4) Building background material

• Saturday, 20 Aug 2011, 2-5pm - Writing Family History (pt4) Production, Presentation and Review

This Month in History

A depiction of Wat Tyler’s death from Jean Froissart's Chronicles

2 June, 1780: The Gordon Riots begin in London. The Papists Act of 1778 eased discriminatory laws against Catholics. Lord George Gordon headed a 60,000 crowd who intended to hand a petition opposing the Act to the House of Commons. The petition was voted down and riots ensued over the next six days.

8 June, 1929: Britains first female cabinet minister is appointed. Margaret Bondfield became minister of labour.

15 June, 1381:  Wat Tyler is killed at Smithfield, his death disperses the Peasant’s Revolt without any significant concessions by the Crown.

26 June, 1483:  Richard III becomes king of England. He declared his nephews Edward and Richard illegitimate in order to assume the throne.

Recommended Books

Tracing Your Family History on the Internet by Chris Patton. Pen and Sword books Ltd, 2011.

Researching on the internet can be intimidating for those who are inexperienced in both using the internet and understanding genealogical records. Chris Patton offers his considerable knowledge on these subjects and explains how to see the wood from the trees.  Tracing Your Family History on the Internet also takes in the specific record types for all parts of the United Kingdom. Among the records covered are occupational records, registers of births, marriages and deaths, maps and immigration documents.

Overall the book is a great jumping off point for those looking to start delving into their families past online. More experienced researchers will find some gaps in their knowledge get filled, but may want to seek out more specialist reference material to advance their skills.

The Pastons And Their England by H. S. Bennett. Cambridge University Press, 1995.

The lives and times of the Paston family have been preserved by a unique collection of letters spanning 1422 to1509. In this book H. R. Bennett uses these letters and many other historical documents to chronicle the families rise from peasants to knights.

Clement Paston is the first to enter the story, living in the Norfolk town with which he shares a surname. Clement worked a few plots of land and managed to educate his son to a very high level. This son, William, went on to study law and set about the family’s progression through several social strata of English society. In an era where much is know of nobility, but little of those below them, The Pastons And Their England provides a fascinating portrait of how ‘the rest’ lived.

Recommended Websites

Sedgeford has a fascinating history and is the site of an internationally important and ongoing archaeological survey. The SHARP website provides lots of fascinating information on this project and the local area.
http://ccgi.sedgeford.plus.com/~sedgeford/blog

There are lots of exciting new developments on the Internet. The major websites continue to add new databases on an almost monthly basis. Amongst the many new items appearing over the last few months those worth a special mention are the census enumerators books for the 1911 census on Ancestry www.ancestry.co.uk whilst Find my Past has new military records and indexes, revised their search facility of the birth, marriage and death indexes and added some interesting Irish resources. www.findmypast.co.uk

Lincs to the Past is a fascinating new gateway website to collections held in Lincolnshire museums and archives, including thousands of images. www.lincstothepast.com

Two old favourites always worth looking at are:

Old Maps, a digital historical map archive: www.old-maps.co.uk

UKBMD provides a gateway to websites providing on-line transcriptions to UK births, marriages, deaths and censuses. www.ukbmd.org.uk

Meet the Past Search Team

An illustration of Queen Boudicca of the Iceni, drawn by Lauren Orton

Lauren Orton. Btec in Fine Art.
Lauren has been working part time for me for 11 years. She is responsible for keeping my office in some semblance of order, conducts research and has a real talent for reading and interpreting maps. One of Lauren’s biggest contributions is through her creative talents. She designed my logo, has produced artwork and designed, written and produced promotional materials for me and clients. Lauren started taking over the layout and production of the family and house history books and presentation packs I create for clients last year and has done a fantastic job.

Cáitlin Blanchard.
Some might think it’s a mistake to work with family, but my daughter has also played a big part in my business since her teens. Like all my assistants she has had to multi-task and can count office administration and research assistance amongst her roles. Her career path has taken her into retail and she is currently in charge of my social media marketing.

Alex Orton. BA (Hons).
Journalism graduate, and brother to Lauren, Alex has notched up around 10 years of part time work for me from filing; database creation and entry; market research and research assistance. Alex now lives in London pursuing a career in journalism, but continues to manage my website and produce my newsletters. Without him there would be no pretty pictures or layout on this newsletter. Check out the changes and new additions he has recently made to my website. These include past copies of my newsletter and a photo gallery of places across East Anglia I have visited over the years. This will be added to on a regular basis, so you never know, you might find a photo on there of a place you are interested in.

Ian Buckingham, MBA.
Ian was an IT pioneer, working in the industry since the late 1970s and encouraged the company he worked for to be one of the first in the UK to use the Internet. A project manager and network specialist Ian can turn his hand to anything computer related from building and installation to trouble shooting. A keen amateur genealogist whose interest in family history began in the 1970s Ian has over the years assisted me with many research projects and has a particular love for maps. He has been responsible for book layout and production for many clients; website design, SEO and technical assistance as well as marketing and business development. Although health problems have meant Ian has retired from his main work and taken more of a back seat in mine over the last couple of years, his business skills and analysis still prove invaluable.

I continue to use a network of established professional researchers for work I and my own team cannot provide. In order to maintain the highest standards for my clients I only work with people who have either undergone extensive training, study and ongoing professional development, or built up a research practice over time through in-depth personal research combined with activities such as transcription projects for family history societies and similar organisations.