Category Archives: News

War Memorials Wanted !!!

If you have ever visited my website or read previous blog entries you will be aware that I collect, transcribe and add information about those whose names are carved in stone or wood, cast in metal or written in a book and then add to my websites for all to view.

Do you have access to a digital camera, know of any war memorials from any conflict.  I have 100’s of memorials transcribe and many more to do, but there are 1,000’s of village memorials, company memorials and private memorials still out there waiting a visitor with a camera who would pass the photographed memorial over to me for the transcription process.

All I would as that you do is photograph the whole memorial – it’s always nice to see the actual memorial.  Then all you have to do is photograph the names so that they can be transcribed.  If the names are in panels, I normally photograph the whole panel, then photograph sections within the panel – making for a good image when transcribing.

For this you will get my thanks and your name put to the photograph used and a note saying that you were the person who made the transcription possible.

You can contact me at memorials@wakefieldfhs.org.uk for further information or to see if I already have your village, town or company memorial.

Memorials for the Wakefield area can be found here

and those from everywhere else can be found here simply click on the county or country link.

So, if you are from the UK, Eire, Europe, America, Canada, Australia or any where else, please contact me with your war memorials from any conflict.


Very much looking forward to hearing from you all.

More than 8.5 million records go on FMP + Free Trial

FMP has just put online over 8.5 million records.

The records include :- Apprentices of Great Britain 1710 – 1774

Boyds Inhabitants of London & Boyds Family Units 1200 – 1946

Boyds London Marriages and Burials

Faculty of London Marriage Licence Allegations 1701 – 1850

Perogative Court of Canterbury Wills Index 1750 – 1800

Teachers Registration Council Registers 1914 – 1948

Trinity House Calenders 1787 – 1854

Vicar-General Marriage Licence Allegations 1694 – 1850

+ more.

While there is a 2 week Free Trial offer on Find My Past, why don’t you go along and see what they have online.

Oh! by the way the Free Trial also includes the 1911 census, so get your selves organised, work out who you need to look for and off you go!

Find My Past  Free Trial can be found here


London Remembers

Have you family from London or do you just like looking at images of interesting places?

Well if the answer to either of those questions is Yes! Then take a look at this website – London Remembers.

The map page has 100’s of hotspot links to places of interest :-  The Ship Tavern WC2 ; Wynkyn de Worde- father of Fleet Street ; site of Zeppelin bomb ; Hobby-horse bicycle and much more.  If you don’t want the hotspot version you can chose a list – a little easier to work with if  like me, you were mooching.

A good site and lots to keep you interested

To visit London Remembers click here – this link takes you straight to the map but click on the home link to see what else is happening

Leeds History at Lunchtime talks

The following talks are to be held in Leeds Central Library and hopefully some of you will be able to attend and enjoy

18th March – Catherine Callinan, Leeds Grand Theatre – “The Grand: An Entertaining Story”

8th April – Alan Humphries, Thackray Museum – “Earthworms and swallows: delftware drug jars at the Thackray Museum”

13th May – Geoffrey Forster, Leeds Library –  “Joseph Priestley and the Leeds Library”

3rd June – Janet Douglas, local historian –  “Isabella Ford: Trade Unionist, Suffragist and Socialist”

8th July – Alun Pugh, Leeds Tour Guide & Chairman of the Friends of BSTC –  “Beckett Street Cemetery: the oldest public cemetery in England. The story of Victorian Leeds told through the people who are buried there- an illustrated talk.”

5th  August – Nicola Pullan, Leeds City Museum –  “Buying up the Empire – globalised shopping in Victorian Leeds”

9th  September – David Thornton, Thoresby Society – “Edward Baines, Leeds Mercury editor and Leeds MP – ‘the Great Liar of the North’”

7th  October –  Shirley Jones,  Head of Conservation, WYAS-  “Conservation of the Leeds Tithe Maps”

All talks are free and take place in the 3rd  floor Meeting Room,  Leeds Central Library, between 1.00pm and 2.00pm.

No booking required, but places are limited.

Tel: 0113 2478290

British Home Children

My uncle John Kaye born in the early 1900’s was so he always told me brought up by nuns.  He used to tell me when I was young, that on a Sunday the children were marched down the road to the church and each given a ‘token’ by the priests of nuns for attending.  He also told me that he used to put the ‘token’ into the chocolate machine when no one was watching!.

Well, uncle John also said that he was sent to Canada when young – he told so many other stories, many about gnomes and fairies living in their garden that it was hard to sort out the truth from the tales. He also said his middle name was Campbell.  Well, sorry uncle, but I took that with a pinch of salt too. I am pleased to say that the Canada story was true, as I found him being sent out when 14 years of age.  The stories said that he worked across the three large states – Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba. but no proof of that yet.  I did however, find him coming back to blighty aged 21.

Now, uncle John was a regular soldier, who achieved the rank of RSM.  He served in Africa and in Burma.  He also said he was a Commando and trained at Achnacarry.  I do know that he was very proud of the dagger and snake tattoo on his calf, and also the piper on his chest.

But I digress, uncle John was one of many young children sent to Canada, where some were welcomed into a new family but many other were treated as slave labour and mistreated.

There is a Rootsweb mailing list for British Home Children – you can either join or view the archives here

or you can visit the following websites

Wikipedia entry for Home Children

Canada National Archives – Home Children

Canada’s Slave Children

British Home Children Descendants

British Home Children in Canada 1869 – 1930

But, don’t forget that children were also sent to Australia

Chantry Chapel, Wakefield

The Chantry Chapel of St. Mary the Virgin is a beautiful place – one of Wakefield’s few ‘little treasures’ left !

How many local people pass by on their way in or out of the city and never pay it a second thought.  But you would be surprised what a little oasis it is, just a few yards away from the busy A61.

You can’t say that you didn’t know it was there, as some might who do not know or care what Wakefield has to offer.  But the Chapel on the Bridge has been around a while and seen such a great deal as it stands with its feet in the river Calder and its face on the bridge awaiting and welcoming its visitors.

What has the chantry seen in its lifetime – this could be a long list!  It has seen Richard, Duke of York and the Battle of Wakefield in the mid 1400’s where Richard was killed. It has seen the Reformation when it was closed and then used as a warehouse, library, office and cheese shop, probably only surviving to today because it is an integral part of the bridge on which it sits so neatly.  It has seen it once again become a place of worship, and at one time being the parish church for the area until St Mary’s church was built.

The Chantry Chapel has outlived many of the younger counterparts including St Mary’s.  It has seen Kings and Queens come and go, the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War and countless other conflicts but still she continues to flourish, now having a full calendar of events and support.

Please pay our ‘little treasure’ a visit as she loves the company!


The history of the Chapel can be found here with other information

Allegations & Bonds

Allegations & Bonds for the Wakefield area.

A couple were to be married but wished to dispense with the proclomation of the banns on the 3 successive Sundays prior to their wedding.  The church would issue a licence to marry, waving the banns but the couple would have to do a little paperwork.

The Allegation or affidavit was a formal statement by the couple about their ages, marital status , residence.  To this affidavit was added an oath stating that there was no ‘formal impediment’ or reason why the marriage should not take place.

The Bond, worn by two ‘sufficient witnesses’  – one normally being the grom, his father or a close friend, pledge to forfeit a large sum of money if there was any untruths being declared.  The bond was not to be laughed at as it could be any sum between £40 and £200.  This sum was set to prove that this was not a light-hearted matter that the couple were intending to go ahead with.

Who took out Bonds & Allegations to avoid marrying by banns or in the local church – well, an Overseer of the poor, could pay for a licence and marry off one of the pregnant young girls in the poorhouse before she gave birth.  Or, Mr Jones may wish to have his daughter married to her boyfriend, very quickly – thus trying to avoid any local scandal when the child came before the wedding.  Or, people of standing, of note and the grand of the area who wished to marry in a private house or chapel.  So as you can see the full social spectrum is covered.

But after all that, it does not mean that the couple actually ‘tied the knot’.

The transcript can be found by clicking here

Scottish Occupations

Was your relative a crofter?  If he was you will surely know what he did and how he earned a living.  But what if your relative was a Guager or a Howdywife, a Lorimer, an Orraman, a Colporteur or even a Fencible?  What did they do for a living? How did they earn the money to feed themselves and/or their family?

If curiosity is getting the better of you then you had better visit the Scottish Occupations section on the sister site of Wakefield Family History Sharing,  Moray Family History Sharing and have a peruse through the old occupations.

If your family are from south of the border you may find these occupations interesting too!

Moray Libindex – e.g. John Younie

If you have family in the Morayshire or as it was called Elginshire, you will know of the Libindex.  If on the other hand you have just found your family there or the surrounding counties you may not know what a fantastic resource the Local Council have put on the web.

The Libindex is the Local Heritage Service’s index to sources of information about people, places and subjects relating to Moray.  These sources include archives from the 13th C to 1975, local newspapers, monumental inscriptions and a lot more.

The online Libindex is regularly updated and contains a people index upwards of 200,00 names.  The places index includes plans from the architectural collection as well as photographs.  The subject section is very diverse and includes topics on education, sport, archaeology and highway robbery.

Take for example John Younie, his entry in the Libindex tells that his father was William Younie of Scott’s Terrace, Forres.  He married Jane Audrey Forbes of Greenhill, Munlochy on 12 November 1921 in Inverness.  He died at Appleby Hall, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire on 13 August 1945.

This Moray resource for John Younie also gives the dates of newspaper articles relating to John i.e. his marriage, his death (2 newspapers) and his obituary.

Now, if you live out of the area, and many of us do, what a fantastic source of information is that, to have at the other end of the internet?

Well Done, Moray Council!


The Moray Libindex can be found by clicking here

The Moray Local Heritage Collection  can be found here


Parish of Dallas, Morayshire

Years ago a very nice man sent me the 1811 census for Dallas, Morayshire and what a fantastic find that was.  My Riach family come from Dallas and the surrounding area and I was now able to find information about my family and add families that linked in.

The information includes :- Residence, Name, Occupation and Age.

In total there are entries for 199 families, that equates to over 870 people.

The same person also sent me Dallas, Morayshire Monunemtal Inscriptions – another fantastic webpage for people with Dallas families, including inscriptions for :- Riach, Miller, James, Grant, Masson,  Young and an inscription for William Grigor, USA in memory of his father who died in 1856.

So much information can be found within these two sources, so go on, have a look!

The 1811 census for Dallas, Morayshire can be found here


The Monumental Inscriptions for Dallas, Morayshire can be found here