Tag: The National Archives (TNA)

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TNA announces 300,000 farm records going online, thanks to grant from Lund Trust

 

Farming potatoes with workers in a field
Potato pickers on a farm

News from The National Archives:

The National Archives is delighted to announce that they will digitise the National Farm Survey (MAF 32 and MAF 73) in full, thanks to a generous grant of £2.13 million from Lund Trust.

The 1941 National Farm Survey is one of the most comprehensive records of land that they hold in their collection and is a window in time on the UK’s agriculture and land use in the middle of the Second World War. Containing extensive data on over 300,000 English and Welsh farms, the survey is among the most-requested record series at The National Archives.

Currently, the complex filing of the paper record makes it difficult for readers to order and use, with the records only available in physical copy. This project will digitise the series in full and create a new digital cataloguing arrangement to make each farm searchable online.

It will not only make the survey permanently and freely available, but will also improve its accessibility and searchability.

Genealogists, family and local historians will be able to consult the series for their own research, and the project will lay the ground for new analyses by historical economists, geographers and ecologists.

Jeff James, CEO & Keeper of The National Archives said:

“This is a unique opportunity to realise the potential of what was seen as a ‘Second Domesday Book’, a ‘permanent and comprehensive record of the conditions on the farms of England and Wales’. Thanks to this partnership, the National Farm Survey, an enormous database of land ownership and land usage in mid-20th century Britain, will be freely available online to researchers in the UK and globally.”

Andrew Wright, Director of Lund Trust said:

“The National Farm Survey was born out of a wartime need decades ago but still has much to teach us about the land. We are pleased to support making these records accessible to help people in England and Wales to know their local areas better and aid scholars researching our rich agrarian history.”

The project began in October 2023 and will finish in March 2027, with teams from across The National Archives working on the conservation, digitisation, transcription, cataloguing, and publishing of the records. More information about the project’s progress and first image release will be published later this year.

About The National Archives

The National Archives is a non-ministerial government department and the official archive for the UK government, and for England and Wales. We look after and make available to the public our collection of historical records dating back more than 1,000 years, including records as diverse as the Domesday Book and MI5 files. We are also a cultural, heritage and academic organisation which promotes public accessibility to iconic documents while ensuring preservation for generations to come.

Lund Trust supports work that greens people’s lives in the UK and also gives to other causes its donors especially care about. Since 2002, it has given more than £107m.

For more information:

You can find out more about the National Farm Survey in Explore the Collection, or by reading The National Archives’ Research Guide.

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In Their Own Write: Contesting the New Poor Law, 1834–1900

I was checking out The National Archives (UK) website when I noticed this announcement. It could be of interest as many of us have pauper ancestors!

This was from TNA’s website [ https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/book-on-victorian-poverty-wins-major-prize/ ]

A major new book on nineteenth century poverty co-authored between staff at The National Archives and Nottingham Trent University has won the North American Victorian Studies Association’s (NAVSA) prize for best book in the field published in 2022.

In Their Own Write: Contesting the New Poor Law, 1834–1900, by Steven King, Paul Carter, Natalie Carter, Peter Jones and Carol Beardmore, focusses on letters from English and Welsh paupers, the wider poor and their advocates, that are held at The National Archives in record series MH 12: Poor Law Union Correspondence. For the first time the history of nineteenth century English and Welsh poverty has been produced based on the testimony of the poor themselves.

Dr Paul Carter, Principal Records Specialist, Collaborative Projects, The National Archives said:

‘We are thrilled that our book has been recognised in this way and are honoured that the North American Victorian Studies Association (NAVSA) has chosen our volume as best book in field. This underpins the importance of archival records research in surfacing voices not usually heard. In most cases, history records the views of the political and economically powerful; but in this case we have the concerns, fears and demands of the poor laid bare giving us an exceptionally clear and rich understanding of what life was like for the poor in Victorian times.’

Read more at https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/book-on-victorian-poverty-wins-major-prize/

The book can be ordered at all good booksellers as well as on-line at Amazon etc

 

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TNA Webinar ┃Researching your family history: 20th Century sources

Join The National Archives (TNA)’s experts as they introduce you to the key 20th century sources for family history, including the 1939 Register, and the 1921 and 1911 Census. You will learn how to maximise your use of these popular sources, setting you on your way to discover more about your family tree.

This webinar is presented by Jessamy Carlson, Family and Local history engagement lead at TNA.

Tuesday 16 May at 14:00

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/researching-your-family-history-20th-century-sources-tickets-546100309727

 

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Nearly 100,000 additional WW2 Service Records to order at TNA

 

It has been announced that close to 100,000 more British Second World War service records have been made available to order from The National Archives (TNA) in Kew.

With the reference number WO 421, these records are in the series, ‘War Office: Selected Smaller Corps Other Ranks: Service Records’ and can be searched via TNA’s online catalogue Discovery at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C17682287

Made up of 94,234 service records of soldiers (excluding officers) who served in the Army Air Corps; the Royal Army Veterinary Corps; the Royal Military Police or Corps of Military Police; the Royal Army Pay Corps; the Royal Army Physical Training Corps; the Military Provost Staff Corps; the Royal Corps of Army Music; the Royal Army Education Corps; the Royal Pioneer Corps; the Intelligence Corps; the Officer Training Corps; and the Non-Combatant Corps.

Individual parts from the MoD Defence Portal, combined by Coldstreamer20 through Photoshop., OGL 3 <http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3>, via Wikimedia Commons
Royal Military Police Backboard – Individual parts from the MoD Defence Portal, combined by Coldstreamer20 through Photoshop., OGL 3 <http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3>, via Wikimedia Commons

These particular records are for soldiers who were discharged from the armed forces from these smaller units/corps of the British Army as being over age before their time expired.  Some of the individuals may have also served in other regiments/corps during the course of their military careers (details of which will be recorded on their service record).

The types of documents that are most commonly found within the service records comprising this series are:

    • Attestation forms, which are the documents signed by the new recruit, or created upon transfer between units;
    • Statement of service, which outline an individual’s postings whilst in service;
    • Discharge forms, which were issued when a soldier left the regiment;
    • A variety of supporting correspondence.

These records are important because this provides easier access for the researcher. Previous to this all British military service records after 1920 were held by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). Records would need to be ordered by next of kin for a £30 fee, but fulfilling an order was taking up to a year.

In February 2021, the MOD began to transfer all 9.7 million historic service records to TNA but this process is expected to take some time. In April 2022 the first tranche was released on TNA’s Discovery and it covered the service records of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, in series WO 420.

With this next batch becoming available at TNA anyone can now search for a  service record which includes the soldier’s initial, surname, service number and date of birth. The researcher can then order it to view at TNA with a wait time of four working days, or pay to have a copy of the record sent to them.

Regretfully, service records of men born fewer than 115 years ago are closed, however a researcher can apply to see the service record if they are able to supply proof of death and then make a freedom-of-information request for a record to be opened.

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C17682287

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Mental Health on Record – The National Archives film

 

The Lunatic Asylum from Wikipedia

The Lunatic Asylum.  image from Wiki Commons

 

Have you found an ancestor in the records labelled as a Lunatic?

I know I did, and was a bit shocked to see that she was an inmate of the workhouse until she died some years later. Of course the workhouse was one of the places that people who couldn’t look after themselves would go before the birth of the National Health Service in Britain.

New Film: Mental Health on Record

This week The National Archives in the U.K. premiered a new film called ‘Mental Health on Record’. It is a stop-motion animation film made by a group of young people which explores how contemporary views on mental health can be used to interpret historical records from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Historical documents are used in the film to demonstrate how perceptions of mental health have changed. The film examines how words like ‘hysterical’, ‘lunatic’ and ‘eccentric’ would have been used in past times to refer to our ancestors, their cases often not being recognised as mental health issues

The documents used by the young film makers originate from a range of sources beyond health records, including the Prison Commission, Central Criminal Court and the War Office.

See: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/mental-health-on-record-released/

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The National Archives makes changes for ordering documents

NEWS:

 

The National Archives
The National Archives, Kew, U.K.

In the UK The National Archives (TNA) in Kew have announced changes to the ordering of documents and some people are not happy from a look at comments being made on Twitter!

Researchers that need to travel long distances to get to TNA seem to be worried by this trial as it will see the restrictions placed on the number of documents they can order. This, they say, will hinder their useful time spent dong research. The argument is that if a researcher is ordering documents on spec, not knowing if they are going to be useful until they have been delivered to the reading room and the researcher has been able to glance through them, then the restriction reduces the number of alternative documents that they can then order in that day. The reduction to twelve documents a day, plus twelve in advance, is not something that they welcome.

 

Collect your document from the locker assigned to your seat in the reading room
Collect your document from the locker assigned to your seat in the reading room

 

Here is the first part of the news item as posted on The National Archives website:

 

From Tuesday 31 March 2020, as part of a six-month trial, readers will be able to order a maximum of 12 documents for the same day, plus up to 12 documents ordered in advance (a maximum of 24 documents per reader per day).

There will be five document ordering slots available each day and you can order as many of your 12 same-day documents as you require in any of the slots. This means that if you have prepared your references you will be able to order 12 documents at the same time. Documents will be delivered at set times each day.

You will not need to finish your advance orders before ordering documents for the same day. The new document ordering and delivery times are listed below:

Document ordering slots Earliest availability in reading rooms
09:45–10:30 11:00–11:15
11:00–11:45 12:15–12:30
12:15–13:00 13:30–13:45
13:30–14:15 14:45–15:00
14:45–15:30 16:00–16:15

In order to facilitate these changes, same-day document ordering will start at 09:45 and finish at 15:30 each day. Advance ordering for the next day will also close at 15:30. Reading room opening times will be unaffected.

To prepare for these changes, we have looked closely at the average number of documents viewed by each reader per day (currently around eight documents each), and have identified new parameters to ensure that readers who plan their visit can conduct their research efficiently in the reading rooms. The proposed changes will give us the opportunity to supply documents to readers within dedicated delivery time slots throughout the day. This will allow us to maintain the collection appropriately so that we can ensure its preservation for future generations of researchers. We will be trialling these changes for six months from the end of March, during which time we will closely monitor reader usage and seek feedback from readers.

The majority of our readers already request records in advance of a visit in order to make the most of their day. If you are not already a user of the advance and bulk order services you can find details on our website on the how to order documents page. We have included a comparison breakdown of the changes overleaf.

 

They do, however, point out that their Bulk Ordering is not affected.

 

Read the full announcement on The National Archives’ website:

https://nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/changes-to-document-ordering/?fbclid=IwAR1Qm956NVxtyWmR_4ENJGcrNRjMjVRD5XAH_rMhjUlF4f3kf2Q52z7VwIQ

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The National Archives Events

NEWS:

 

I was browsing the news email from The National Archives that I got this week and noticed that there are some really interesting events coming up. Here are just three that caught my eye.

 

 

The Song of Simon de Montfort
23 Jan, 19:30. Explore Simon De Montfort’s life as a great warrior, devoted family man, charismatic political leader and paragon of knightly piety through original documents. 

Dependence, intolerance and expulsion
24 Jan, 14:00. Learn about the stories of Medieval Jewish communities and why they fled England despite the protection of the Crown. This talk marks Holocaust Remembrance Day 2020 (27 January).  

The rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell
27 Feb, 19:30. Discover the myths around Cromwell’s meteoric career and the personal, political and religious motivations behind it.

 

The National Archives at Kew
The National Archives at Kew

 

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North Buckinghamshire Lloyd George Domesday records now added to TheGenealogist

Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links.

 

Press Release from TheGenealogist: Major New Release 

North Buckinghamshire Lloyd George Domesday Survey records added to TheGenealogist’s Map Explorer™

 

TheGenealogist has just released the North Buckinghamshire maps and field books into its property ownership and occupancy record set, The Lloyd George Domesday Survey. This unique online resource allows researchers to discover where an ancestor lived in the 1910-1915 period from various London districts and now, for the first time, North Buckinghamshire.

 

These records make use of TheGenealogist’s powerful new Map Explorer™ to access the maps and residential data, giving those who want to discover where their ancestors lived in the period before the First World War some powerful new features to use. The Lloyd George Domesday Survey records are sourced from The National Archives and are being digitised by TheGenealogist so that it is possible to precisely locate where an ancestor lived on large scale, hand annotated maps. These plans include plots for the exact properties and are married to various georeferenced historic map overlays and modern base maps on the Map Explorer™ which allows the researcher to thoroughly investigate the area in which an ancestor lived.

 

Buckingham, North Buckinghamshire Valuation Office Maps

 

This release includes the following places: Addington, Akeley, Ashendon and Dorton, Aston Abbotts and Wingrave, Aston Clinton, Aston Sandford, Astwoo, Aylesbury, Barton Hartshorn, Beachampton, Biddlesden, Bierton, Bletchley, Boarstall, Bow Brickhill, Bradwell, Broughton, Buckingham, Calverton, Castlethorpe, Charndon, Chearsley and Long Crendon, Cheddington, Chicheley, Clifton Reynes, Cold Brayfield, Creslow and Whitchurch, Cublington, Cuddington, Dinton, Stone and Hartwell, Drayton Beauchamp, Drayton Parslow and Mursley, Dunton and Hoggeston, East Claydon, Edgcott and Marsh Gibbon, Edlesborough, Emberton, Fenny Stratford, Fleet Marston and Quarrendon, Foscott, Gayhurst, Grandborough, Hogshaw and North Marston, Great and Little Brickhill, Great Horwood, Great Linford, Grendon Underwood, Haddenham, Halton and Wendover, Hanslope, Hardwick and Weedon, Haversham, Hillesden, Ickford, Ivinghoe, Kingsey, Kingswood and Ludgershall, Lillingstone, Linslade and Soulbury, Loughton, Luffield Abbey and Stowe, Marsworth and Pitstone, Mentmore, Milton Keynes, Nash, Newport Pagnell, Newton Longville, Olney, Oving and Pitchcott, Padbury, Quainton, Radclive, Ravenstone, Shalstone, Shenley Brook End, Simpson, Steeple Claydon, Stewkley, Stoke Hammond, Stoke Mandeville, Studley, Swanbourne and Winslow, Thornborough, Tingewick, Turweston, Upper and Lower Winchendon, Waddesdon, Walton, Water Eaton, Wavendon, Weston Turville, Wing, Wolverton, Woolstone and Woughton, Wotton Underwood.

 

Bletchley Park shown in the Map Explorer™ from TheGenealogist

 

  • TheGenealogist’s Lloyd George Domesday records link individual properties to extremely detailed maps used in 1910-1915
  • Fully searchable by name, county, parish and street
  • The maps will zoom down to show the individual properties as they were in the 1910s
  • The transparency slider reveals a modern street map underlay
  • Change the base map displayed to more clearly understand what the area looks like today

 

Read the article on finding Bletchley Park in these records.

 

About TheGenealogist

TheGenealogist is an award-winning online family history website, who put a wealth of information at the fingertips of family historians. Their approach is to bring hard to use physical records to life online with easy to use interfaces such as their Tithe and newly released Lloyd George Domesday collections. 

TheGenealogist’s innovative SmartSearch technology links records together to help you find your ancestors more easily. TheGenealogist is one of the leading providers of online family history records. Along with the standard Birth, Marriage, Death and Census records, they also have significant collections of Parish and Nonconformist records, PCC Will Records, Irish Records, Military records, Occupations, Newspaper record collections amongst many others.

TheGenealogist uses the latest technology to help you bring your family history to life. Use TheGenealogist to find your ancestors today!

 

About The National Archives

The National Archives is one of the world’s most valuable resources for research and an independent research organisation in its own right. As the official archive and publisher for the UK government, and England and Wales they are the guardians of some of the UK’s most iconic national documents, dating back over 1,000 years. Their role is to collect and secure the future of the government record, both digital and physical, to preserve it for generations to come, and to make it as accessible and available as possible. The National Archives brings together the skills and specialisms needed to conserve some of the oldest historic documents as well as leading digital archive practices to manage and preserve government information past, present and future.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/  http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ 

 

For the latest stories, follow the Media Team on Twitter @TNAmediaofficer

 

 

*Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links. This does not mean that you pay more just that I make a percentage on the sales from my links. The payments help me pay for the cost of running the site. You may like to read this explanation here:

http://paidforadvertising.co.uk

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World War II Casualty Lists reveal executed Motor Racing drivers

I was asked to write an article to go with the release of a new set of records over at TheGenealogist.

The record set adds to TheGenealogist’s Military Records collection with the release of more than 1 million entries for people recorded in the Second World War Casualty Lists. Sourced from collection WO 417 held at The National Archives, these documents contain records from the war years of 1939 to 1945 and list casualties sustained by the British Army during the Second World War. There are volumes for Officers and Nurses, with separate volumes for Other Ranks. The Casualty Lists were compiled from daily lists that had been prepared by the War Office Casualty Section and cover the various expeditionary forces deployed in different locations across Europe, Africa and Asia as well as for personnel at home.

WW2 Casualty Records will give family history researchers details of ancestors’ names and regiment as well as ranks and service numbers for those recorded. The World War 2 casualty lists contained more detail than their WW1 counterparts and often list the date of the casualty (as well as the list date), plus other information such as the unit a soldier had been serving in at the time.

British Casualty Lists
DF3M83 The image from the Nazi Propaganda! depicts captured English soldiers in Libya, published on 4 August 1942. Place unknown. Photo: Berliner Verlag/Archiv

Included in these lists are those who had been unaccounted for by the military, been dangerously ill or injured, captured as a Prisoner of War or died. The records include troops who had been serving in a number of places across the world, but also cover personnel who had lost their lives, were injured at home or were serving at an overseas station outside the theatres of war. Updates and corrections appear in the records as new information was received by the War Office.

 

These records allow a researcher to use TheGenealogist’s unique SmartSearch by simply clicking the magnifying glass at the bottom of the transcript. This will automatically search for any other records relating to that person. For example, if they were a Prisoner of War this will return other records from TheGenealogist’s military collection, including PoW records that reveal what camp that soldier had been recorded in.

 

If a person had died, you also get a smart link to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) which brings up details of their war grave, with further information.

 

Use the WWII casualty list records to:

  • Find ancestors who were Missing, Wounded, Killed in Action or Prisoners of War
  • Discover army personnel seriously ill or accidentally killed serving at home or overseas
  • Check an ancestor’s rank and service number
  • Find the theatre of war in which your ancestor was serving when they became a casualty

 

Read my article for TheGenealogist: WWII Casualty Lists finds two motor racing aces executed by the Nazis   (Affiliate link)

 

*Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links. This does not mean that you pay more just that I make a percentage on the sales from my links. The payments help me pay for the cost of running the site. You may like to read this explanation here: http://paidforadvertising.co.uk

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Prisoner Records reveal a criminal lunatic who threatened Queen Victoria

Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links.*

 
Latest News: 
TheGenealogist is adding to its Court and Criminal Records collection with the release of almost 700,000 entries for prisoners. Sourced from the HO 8 Registers held by The National Archives, these documents contain records from the years 1821 to 1876. This expands our collection to over 1.3 million individuals covering 1801-1876.

Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey

 
These Prison Registers give family history researchers details of ancestors who were imprisoned in a number of convict prisons from Broadmoor to the Warrior Convict Hulk. The records reveal the names of prisoners, offences the prisoner had been convicted for, the date of their trial and where they were tried.  

Use the quarterly prison registers to:
  • Find ancestors guilty of crimes ranging from theft, highway robbery and libel to murder
  • Discover the sentences received
  • See the age of a prisoner
  • Find out where they were sentenced and to which prison they were sent
  Read TheGenealogist’s article, “A child poisoner and a criminal lunatic detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure”.

*Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links. This does not mean that you pay more just that I make a percentage on the sales from my links. The payments help me pay for the cost of running the site. You may like to read this explanation here: http://paidforadvertising.co.uk
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