Genealogy Chat

I have now reached a stage where I would like to "flesh out" my tree with more information. Can anyone recommend a Social History book to cover topics such as public health, transport, education, home environment etc.
Many thanke
Maurice

Have you looked into the work of Charles Booth who wrote about working class life in London in the 19th century.

There are maps which show where the different social classes lived.

Google and you should find lots of information.

Kath. x

It will depend on which era you're thinking about.

I suggest going to your local library & browsing. Don't forget the junior section. It can have some wonderful books on social history that are also good adult reading.

And of course, Google.

Ozi

Might not be London Kathleen. There is other life out here!
If local, try out your local archives centre or history group,
Jan

I agree - browsing in the library, browsing on the internet, and Mayhew's book about London that can also be read here
http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/MayLond.html.

Also, there are very useful and interesting books by the historian, Eve McLaughlin, such as can be seen here
http://www.bucksgs.org.uk/publications/mclaughlin.htm

I've seen a couple of TV series which I presume are British, but I don't know their British title - here they were called The Victorian Farm & # 57, The Story of a House (set in Bristol). I guess there's books about them, and these books have bibliographies or references in the back pages.

I agree with you Jan - there IS lots of life outside London. I live in the north-east myself, but I also know that at the end of the 19th century an awful lot of people from all over the country ended up in London for one reason or another (my own great-grandparents did), so lots of families were affected by the conditions in London. It's why most London register offices will not supply certificates for family history purposes. They would be inundated because there were so many people born there in those times.

That's why I suggested Charles Booths works.

Kath. x

Kath - there's something flakey about your reasoning re London certs.
In 1911, 260576 folk lived in Newcastle RD, and 203517 in Gatehead RD and they both issue genealogical certs. Given that, by 1911, the county of London is spread over 30 RDs, I don't see they''ld be more swamped than say Newcastle or Gateshead..

Hi mgnv

I was only giving the information that I got myself from register offices in London when I was trying to order my grandfather's birth certificate. This was the reason they gave me for not being able to supply certificates for family history purposes.

This fact was also mentioned on the first series of "Who Do You Think You Are".

Kath. x

If you're from a working class background see if you can find anything about the Rowntree study in York. There's a really interesting article on the BBC News Magazine website at the moment about this - see link below.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11584487
I can also really recommend Open University short courses - have a browse on their website and see if anything catches your eye.
Sarah

Irrelevant of area, Google is your best friend :)

if you are prepared to wade through pages and try different searches, for example googling Brentford/Old Chiswick/ Isleworth/ in varying combinations with and without my family name, gave me several family history societies with detailed info, several links to books that amazingly mentioned family members by name in the context of where they lived. Plus lots of general social background for those areas.

This has proved a valuable site also

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/browse.aspx

hi there,
Almanacks are good about some social history. Also books regarding the local area you are looking into. I have just finished writing my story of my late Gran and her family generations before and have found lots of information regarding health, education living arrangements and medical conditions, some of the books are very interesting on how to treat certain conditions that appear on death certificates. I didn't just want dates i wanted a lifestyle behind a date. Its worth it.
thanks

Kath - apologies for misattributing the flakiness. It seems I should have put the blame on the London rego offices - course it could be they've no place to put the extra staff, or else they can't get the staff at the wage they offer, but it still seems flakey to me.

Oi there's nothing wrong with Essex :)

I found newspapers a wonderful source of information.
Jonesey describes how to join the Lancashire Library, which will give access to 19th century newspapers:
http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards.asp?wci=thread&tk=1232629

I found out why my gg grandad's brother was in prison aged 16 in 1851 - and a wonderful description of him - he seems to have been a 19th century 'hoodie' - and not the sharpest tool in the box!! LOL
Another gggrandad was fined for not sending his children to school, and the 'petty sessions' bit of the newspapers are a real eye opener!!

Hi PP Ha ha only joking

Mountnessing is just down the road from me (I'm in Chelmsford) and we do have some lovely villages.

We get a bad press though !

Many thanks for all your replies to my request - sorry for the delayed response but a sudden downturn in my health resulted in a few days and no computer!!
Maurice

Hope you're feeling a bit better, Maurice.

Just thought of one we've missed, Family History Magazines. Most libraries (in Australia) subscribe to one or more of these. They have excellent articles about the lives and times of our ancestors.

Ozi

For Scotland the Statistical Accounts for Scotland 1791 -1845 are a good resource for social history including a wide range of info eg parish reports, school attendances, health issues of the area etc and can be viewed online.
Sorcha