The life of a female domestic servant in 1700’s England was extremely difficult. There were no labour laws at this time, so girls worked seven days a week and were paid a pittance, if they received any money at all. In return they were provided with a place to sleep, food and clothes.

Some homeowners gave the girl’s wages directly to their father’s. The job duties of a domestic servant were wide and varied such as maid, dairy maid, cook etc. Some held higher ranking positions such as ladies’ maid, while a maid-of-all-work did whatever needed to be done around the home.

There were not many employment options for peasant women so those who failed to get or keep a domestic servant position might of had no choice but to consider prostitution and or theft, the first of which was extremely dangerous and the second punishable by hanging.

This is an account of female servants pay from 1714-1728 in Sir John Noel Bart’s household in Kirkby Co. Leicester. Sarah Sherwin started working in the household as a maid on 22nd June 1717 and was paid £4 per year which she ‘desired to leave in the hands of her master’ for three years. She also had savings of £5.14.3 (probably from a previous employer) and £2.05.9 from her father, both amounts were given to her master for safe keeping. By 1721 she had savings of £20 which would have been worth approximately £1,695 in today’s money.

These documents, along with many other 18th century material can be found in the Mundy Special Collection.

‘My Ancestor Was in Service’ publication by Pamela Horn is available at £8.50 from our bookshop. Click here to buy online.

Attend our  lecture ‘The Oldest Profession’ by John Hurley on Wednesday 8th December at 2pm to learn more about the ‘other’ profession peasant woman sometimes had to consider.

       

Technorati Tags: documents, family history, genealogy, society of genealogists

Regulations for issuing UK passports were not formulated until 1846. In fact, before the First World War it was not compulsory for a British person travelling abroad to have a passport. Passports issued to British-born subjects could be used for a single journey and any subsequent journey only if countersigned afresh by the ministers or consuls of the countries which the holder intended to visit. Possession of a passport, however, was confined largely to merchants and diplomats, and the vast majority of those travelling overseas had no formal document. That was until 30 November 1915 when an Order in Council was issued to amend the Defence of the Realm and insisted that ‘A person coming from or intending to proceed to any place out of the United Kingdom as a passenger shall not, without the special permission of a Secretary of State, land or embark at any port in the United Kingdom unless he has in his possession a valid passport issued to him not more than two years previously, by or on behalf of the Government of the country of which he is a subject or a citizen …’.

The National Archives has an extensive but incomplete collection of passport applications, licences to pass beyond the seas and entry books of passes issued by the Secretaries of State.

Below is the 1853 passport of Reverend John Cholmeley from our Special Collections which includes details and stamps from thirteen trips all over Europe, including France, Italy and Austria.

Technorati Tags: family history, family history document collection, genealogy, passports, society of genealogists

Royal Navy Officer Admiral John Byng was born on 29th October 1704 and was controversially executed by gun fire on 14th March 1757 on the quarterdeck of his former flagship, ‘Monarch’  for failing to "do his utmost" to prevent Minorca falling to the French following the Battle of Minorca.

Admiral Byng’s harsh sentence was opposed by many, including Admiral Forbes who refused to sign his death warrant. 

The Society is pleased to have a written explanation by Admiral Forbes explaining his reasons for not signing the death warrant of Admiral Byng. This document can be found in the ‘Herbert’ Special Collection.

Professional genealogists Geoff Swinfield has kindly transcribed this 253 year old document for ease of understanding.

Transcription

Adm^l Forbes’s reasons for not signing Adm^l Byng’s

Dead Warrant.

It may be thought great presumption

in me to differ from so great Authority as that of the

Twelve Judges but when a man is call’d upon to sign

his name to an act, which is to give Authority for the

shedding of blood, He ought to be guided by his Conscience,

& not by the Opinion of other men.

In the Case before us, it

is not The merit of Adm^l Byng that I consider whether

he deserves Death or not, is not a Question for me to decide; but whether, or not, his Life can be taken away by the Sentence pronounc’d upon him by the Court Martial, and

after having so clearly explain’d their motives for pronouncing such a Sentence, is the point alone has imploy’d my most serious attention.

The 12^th Art. of War, upon

w^ch Adml Byng’s Sentence is grounded, Says ___ According to

my understanding of its meaning, “That every person who

shall in time of action withdraw, or keep back, or not

come into fight, or who shall not do his utmost &

through Motive’s of Cowardice, Negligence, or Disaffection,
shall suffer Death. The Court Martial does, in Express

Words, acquit Adm^l Byng of Cowardice & Disaffection, & does

not name the word negligence. ____ Adm^l Byng does not, as I

conceive, fall under the letter, or description of the 12^th Art of

War _____ It my be said, that negligence is implied, the(n)

word is not nam’d, otherwise the C^t Martial wou’d not

have brought his offence under the 12^th Art of War, having

acquitted him of Cowardice, & Disaffection.

But it must be acknowledg’d,

that the negligence imply’d cannot be wilfull negligence;

for wilfull negligence in Adm^l Byng’s situation must proceed

either from Cowardice, or Disaffection, & he is expressly acquited

of both these crimes, besides crimes w^ch are imply’d only

& are not nam’d may indeed justify suspicion, &

private opinion, but cannot satisfy the Conscience in a case

of Blood.

Adm^l Byng’s fate was reffer’d to a Court Martial

his Life & Death was left to their opinions; The C^t Martial

condemn him to Death, because as they expressly say they

were under a necessity of doing so by reason of the letter of the

law; the severity of w^ch they complain of, because it

admits of no mitigation. ________ The C^t Mar^l expressly say,

that the prisoner, they do, in the most earnest manner, recommend

him to his Maj^ts mercy; it is then evident, that in the

opinion, and Consciences of the Judges, he was not deserving of

Death.

The Question then is, shall the opinion, or necessities

of the C^t Mar^l determine Adm^l Byng’s fate. If it shou’d be

the latter, he will be Executed contrary to the intentions, & the

meaning of the Judges; who, to do justice, do most earnestly

recommend him for mercy; and if it shou’d be the former, his Life

is not forfeited. His Judges declare he is not deserving of Death;

but mistaking either the meaning of the Law, or the nature of

his offence, they bring him under an Article of War, which

according to their own description of his offence he does not

I conceive fall under; and then they condemn him to death,

because, as they say, the law admits of no mitigation. Can

a Man’s life be taken away by such a Sentence. I wou’d not

willingly be understood, & have it believ’d, that I Judge of

Adm^l Byng’s deserts; that was the business of the C^t Mar^l; & it is

my Duty only to Act according to my conscience; which,

after deliberate consideration, & assisted by the best lights that

a poor understanding is capable of attaining, it remains

still in doubt; and therefore I cannot consent to Sign a

warrant, Whereby the Sentence of the C^t Mar^l may be carried

into execution; for I cannot help thinking, that however

criminal Adm^l Byng may be, his life is not forfeited

by that Sentence. I don’t mean to find fault in the

least with the Opinion of other men; all I endeavour

at, is to give reasons for my own; and all I desire, or

wish is, that my meaning may not be misunderstood.

I do not pretend to Judge of Adm^l Byng’s desert nor to

give my opinion of the propriety of the Act.

Admiral Byng                                          Admiral Forbes

Technorati Tags: admiral byng, admiral forbes, family history, family tree, genealogy, the Society of genealogists

The Society of Genealogist has hundreds of old Peerage Claims dating as far back as the 18th century.

A Peerage claim happens when a hereditary peer dies, and his heir wishes to prove his claim to the title, he or she must provide suitable documentary evidence to the Crown Office of the House of Lords to prove that he or she is indeed the heir to the title.

Claims to peerages whose succession is in dispute (as is the below example), are made by Petition to The Crown, presented through the Lord Chancellor. He refers the accompanying documents to the Attorney General in order that he may report upon them to the Sovereign.

Peerage claims are large books or files filled with ‘evidence’. The example we have used below has just under 400 pages. Mr. John Borthwick and his father were trying to prove their claim for over 40 years until it was finally recognised at the Lord Lyon Court in Edinburgh. The discovery of forged papers dating back to the 18th century helped secure the claim.

Front cover of the 1868 case of John Borthwick claiming the title ‘Lord, Honor and Dignity of Lord Borthwick’ (who died in the battle of Flodden in 1513) to the objection of Mr. Archibald Borthwick.

Technorati Tags: family history, genealogy, perrage claim, the Society of genealogists

Family history documents not only help us to imagine what life would have been like for our ancestors but also help us to portray a sign of the times, often highlighting certain injustices of the past.

John Folliott was a wealthy Englishman who owned land in the north of Ireland. His 1779 – 1780 rent book shows that he collected rent every six months from tenants in the counties of Sligo and Donegal. 

Land was confiscated from Gaelic clans all over Ireland throughout the 16th and 17th century and granted by the Crown authority to colonists from Britain. This would almost certainly be how the Folliott family came to own land in Ireland.

By the 1800’s most Irish families were impoverished tenant farmers, generally in debt to their British landlords. The need to survive on small plots of rented land created the perilous situation where vast numbers of people depended on the potato crop for survival.

The failure of the potato harvest from 1845 – 1847 caused by a fungus that struck the potato plants was responsible for the starvation of at least one million Irish people. Another one million emigrated to America. This was known as the ‘Great Irish Famine’.

Mr. John Folliott’s Irish rent book can be found in the Herbert Special Collection.

Dominick Gaffney who was a tenant of Mr. John Folliott in the county of Sligo paid £10 for six months rent in the year 1779.

Technorati Tags: family history, genealogy, irish, rent books

Poll books were published from the late 1600s onwards, right through into the late 1800s. The Society of Genealogists poll book collection have been researched and mentioned in many academic publications as one of the most extensive in the world.

Poll books list not only the names, addresses and occupations of our ancestors but also their political inclinations as they list exactly whom they voted for.

Eligibility to vote in Parliamentary elections before the Reform acts was based on land holdings, renting property of sufficient value and payment of local land taxes, and in certain Boroughs, on Freedom rights. Poll books include the person’s ‘qualification’ to vote which usually meant you had to be a freeholder of a property worth at least 40 shillings. Although this was not always the case as shown in the below ‘Town of Bedford’ poll book extract where the tenant’s of the properties are also entitled to vote.

Another way a less than wealthy ancestor may have been able to vote was if he lived in a ‘Potwalloper’ county (see below) where householders were allowed to vote if they had ‘a hearth large enough to boil, or wallop, a cauldron, or pot’.

Of course, if you were a woman the above did not apply as votes for women (providing they were householders, married to a householder or if they held a university degree) were not allowed until 1918.

The Society of Genealogists is currently making digital images of its early poll book collection available for members to search as part of the MySoG pages on the Society’s website www.sog.org.uk

 

The following is an extract from a rare early electoral roll held at  the Society of Genealogists along with its Poll Book Collection. It comprises a “Register of the Electors to vote after the end of this present Parliament  in the choice of a  Member or Members to servce for the County of Bedford  at any election which may take place after the end of 31 October 1832 and before 1 Nov 1833″

 

Records of those who paid the land tax were  held at Quarter Session and used as electoral roll showing who may vote. This is a printed register of  eligible voters drawn from those records

 

 

1832 Bedford voters lists shows that tenants were entitled to vote.

The ‘Potwalloping’ Borough of Colchester 1830.

 

A 1831 Cambridge poll book showing candidate Viscount Palmerston who later (aged 71) went on to become the oldest Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1859.

 

Technorati Tags: family history, genealogy, poll books, potwalloping, the Society of genealogists, votes, voting

The Society have many printed directories dating back to the 18th century. County directories were expensive to advertise in, so local businesses opted for the smaller local ones. Each local directory is a hive of useful information for family historians who’s ancestors owned small businesses.

The Society is currently working on a ‘British Business Index’ which will gather as much information as possible on British shopkeepers, businessmen and women and their companies.

The primary source for this index will come from a series of books published in the 1890s by the Brighton firm of Robinson, Son and Pike which later became W T Pike. The contents of these particular directories contain more than just business listings and advertisements. They include a history of the area, its attractions, major institutions and its commercial life. There are sometimes details of town councillors, often with vignette-sized photographs and sometimes even a picture of the local football team!

Pike’s books have a minimum of a paragraph about each shop, often showing a photograph of it or the proprietor and there are frequently details of when and from whom the business was acquired (often a named relative). Family members working in the business are usually given and, if a person is prominent in local society, the entry often mentions membership of the corporation and leisure activities including involvement with clubs, charities and other institutions. This kind of information tells a lot about an individual’s character and is extremely difficult to find elsewhere in such a comprehensive form.

The below images are taken from the 1895 Halifax Brighouse & District directory.

 

 

.

Technorati Tags: family history, genealogy, local directories, the Society of genealogists

It’s always interesting to see how much other people are paid. Even more so if its one of your ancestors from over a hundred years ago! Many of our collections have records that shed light on how wealthy or destitute our ancestors really were.

The Herbrand-Russell Special Collection contains many receipts and invoices as well as records of pay. Like the below image of the ‘Servants pay list’ from 1890.

‘Charles Harris’ was the horse groom for the wealthy ‘Lord Herbrand-Russell’ and was paid £2.5s1d (pounds, shillings and penny) each week. According to the list, his pay was handed to him in two separate lumps twice a week. 

This equates to £135 in today’s money. His two helpers received £123 per week and were also paid in two instalments each week.

On this kind of pay the servants certainly wouldn’t of been able to afford the kind of luxuries that Lord Herbrand-Russell treated himself to on a weekly basis. Luxuries that are now days considered essentials.

Servants Pay List.

A bill for three days worth of meat from the local butchers £1.6s 8d (£80 in today’s money).

Monthly grocery invoice for Lord Herbrand-Russell £14,2s 11d (£847 in today’s money).

Bill for a bottle of Sherry £0.5s (£15 in today’s money).

Technorati Tags: cost of living, family history, genealogy

Ephemera is transitory written and printed matter not intended to be retained or preserved. It includes trade cards, bookmarks, catalogues, greeting cards, pamphlets, headed letters, posters, prospectuses, stock certificates, tickets and magazines.

There is even an Ephemera Society dedicated to the ‘collection, preservation, study and educational uses of hand-written and printed ephemera’.

Different types of ephemera are produced to meet the needs of the day, such items reflect the moods and mores of past times in a way that more formal records cannot. They can give us real insight into fashions, attitudes and the costs of daily living.

The Society of Genealogists is always on the look out for rare material to add to its ever expanding collection and our head librarian recently stumbled across this 1904 printed ephemera called ‘To Uxbridge from the City by Tram, Tube and Car’. She has since searched the internet to see if there are any other known copies and is yet to find one. A charming guide of things to do, places to see and shops and restaurants at every tube and tram stop from the City of London to Uxbridge. Some of the shops and restaurants advertised are still in business today.

It includes many pictures of buildings, institutions, restaurants, shops and their shop keepers from 1904.

  

Another typical example of ephemera you can find within our collections is this 1884 ‘Grand Hotel, Eastbourne. Visitors Guide’ which would have been given to people staying at the hotel.

 

Technorati Tags: collections, ephemera, family history, genealogy

The Bible was once regarded as more than just a holy scripture, they were sacred objects in themselves. Given the most important place in the house and filled with family records and memories, the "family Bible" served as the spiritual centre of the home.

Publishers catered to this market by producing ever-larger Bibles, complete with explanatory articles, colour illustrations, pages for recording births, marriages and deaths, and ornamental covers for wealthier families.

Family Bibles can be a superb resource for genealogy research. The births, marriages and deaths of generations are listed as the Bible is passed down through the family. Even if you already have this information, seeing it penned down in an ancestors handwriting will be much more thrilling!  

Family Bibles tend to have survived more in America than in Britain, much the same applies in Australia and New Zealand. This is not always the case so ensure to ask around, older relatives may have an old family Bible buried away in the loft, not realising it would be of help to your research. Family Bibles were such a commonplace during the Victorian era, that they can’t have all vanished in the UK!

The Family Bible below was sent to us by ‘The Episcopal Diocese of California’ last year. It was published in Cambridge in 1637 and belonged to the ‘Hardy’ family. It lists 13 births from 1710 – 1794 and is a bit of a mystery as to where the Hardy family came from and how their family Bible found its way to California. This would be a great project for a keen genealogists to work on.

 

Technorati Tags: family artefacts, family bibles, family history, genealogy