General History

From the Family Tree Forum Reference Library

Related Pages


Schools and Education


Museums and Galleries


Work and Trade Assosciations / Unions


Political Parties and Movements

The Suffragettes


Hospitals, Asylums and Sanitoriums


The Industrial Revolution


American History


Civilian Transport


Architecture and Old Buildings


The Law and Social Legislation

  • http://www.oldbaileyonline.org This has the transcripts of Old Bailey trials from 1674-1834. You can search by name or place, (the name search includes defendants, witnesses and jurors). Also has old maps and other info about London history.
  • http://www.devonfhs.org.uk/forewords/A138.pdf although written as an introduction to the Apprenticeship Register for Dawlish, Devon, this provides a good description of the Parish Apprenticeship system in England in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.



The British Monarchy


Emigration and Immigration

Highland Clearances

For those interested in the Highland Clearances there is loads of info here - I only looked at 6 of them and have already found a missing person.

If you google "Metagama" you will get some ship passenger lists from 1920's. This is a small example - 404 names on this list mostly from Scotland. Departed Glasgow, Scotland on Friday, June 22, 1923 Departed Belfast, Ireland on Saturday, June 23, 1923

Trans-Atlantic Sailing to Quebec and Montreal, Canada, July 5, 1923 THIS was a C.P.R. liner, come to Lewis to take on those whom Manny Shinwell later described in Parliament as "the best of Scottish manhood". The Metagama sailed on Saturday the 21st of April, 1923. From all over Lewis, they crowded into Stornoway on the Friday. Cromwell Street echoed with the banter and excited anticipation of those about to leave, mingling with the sadness of those who had come to say goodbye. (This is From West Side historical Society on Google - out of the 300 who sailed that day only 20 were NOT young men, the average age was 22.) It decimated the Island Communities and to this day they have not recovered.

Links


Inns and Public Houses



Religion and the Clergy

  • http://www.crockford.org.uk/ Crockford’s Clerical Directory: a directory of the clergy of the Church of England, the Church in Wales, the Scottish Episcopal Church,
  • http://www.special-coll.bham.ac.uk/ The archives for the Church Missionary Society are kept at Birmingham University Library in their Special Collections. The catalogue can be searched online here


Maps and Photography


The Landed Gentry


Bargemen/Boatmen/Watermen/Lightermen



Jewish history




Shipping and Passenger Lists


Some Old Legal Terms

Some of those funny words that we find on old wills etc.

MOIETY......... A half .....part..... portion or share of property etc. Note: Such is usually based on family or unilateral descent.

GAVELKIND...... Equal shares among qualifying heirs.

ECHEATS......... Reversion of land to the manor etc. under feudal tenure when lacking legal heirs.

MESSUAGE...... House or dwelling.

SIEZED............ To be in legal possession of, from the feudal concept of "seisin"

INTER ALIA..... Among other things

DEMESNE..........Land of a feudal lord retained for his own use i.e the grounds of a Mansion etc.

TERRIER........... A form of Register of Land belonging to an estate etc..

FEALTY............The fidelity owed to a Feudal Lord

FRANKPLEDGE....Anglo Saxon system in which 10 households or tithings were grouped together and became responsible for each others behaviour or conduct.

CAPITE.............means the Tenant held the property in 'Capite' for the landlord to whom he paid rents

ATTAINDER........Common law - The state of an offender who had been sentenced for a capital offence.

ATTAINTED..... disgraced......... or to pass sentence of attainder against....

ENFEOFFED.... to invest with a Feudal estate or fee.

DEVISED.......... Give land or property in a Will. Or to plan and contrive.

DEFEASANCE ...... Forfeiture or annulment of something or some legal right (usually because some original condition has not been complied with; e.g. not paying the mortgage)


Workhouses


Ireland

Before the last ice-age, there was no Irish Sea, English Channel or North Sea, Europe was all one land mass and the fairly sparse population was of European origin . The encroaching ice pushed out most humans although one or two tribes may have held out on the West Coast of Ireland where the gulf stream raised the temperature, probably to something like Alaska's today. After the ice-age, about 10,000 years ago, the melting ice caps raised the sea level and created the present islands which were populated by European Celts who were gradually pushed westward by fresh influxes from Europe (mainly Germanics) and Scandinavia. Ireland in particular received quite a lot of Spanish. Trade by sea flourished so there were other additions to the gene pool, e.g. Viking, and later Spanish.

The island of Ierne (Ireland) was settled by a Milesian race, who came from Scythia (Middle East) by way of Spain, and established the Kingdom of Tara about 500 BC. The supremacy of the Ardri (High King) of Tara was acknowledged by eight lesser kingdoms (Munster, Connaught. Allech, Auriel, Ulidea, Meath, Leinster and Ossory) ruled by descendants of the eight sons of Miled.

Although little is known concerning the earliest inhabitants of Ireland, there are many traces of Neolithic man throughout the island. In the later Bronze Age a Celtic race of Goidels (Gaels) appears to have invaded the island and in the early Iron Age Brythons from South Britain effected settlements in the South East, whilst Picts from North Britain established similar settlements in the North. Towards the close of the Roman occupation of Britain (they never got to Ireland), the dominant tribe in the island was that of the Scoti, who afterwards established themselves in Scotland. Gypsies, a nomadic race, originally from India, are also well represented. The overall population remained sparse, under 3 million until the 20th century

With the separation of Britain, in the reign of Henry Vlll, from the Roman Catholic Church, Spain aggressively attempted to isolate England and sought to strengthen ties with the rest of Europe, including Ireland which remained predominately RC, culminating in a disastrous attempted invasion of England in 1588. The Armada came to grief after being forced through the English Channel, into the North Sea and rounding Scotland. It is believed that hundreds of Spanish sailors got ashore on the Irish coast and disappeared inland.



Mining and Heavy Industry

  • www.welshcoalmines.co.uk/DisastersList.htm Welsh Mining Disasters



The Celts