First steps in Mothballing parts of the Hertfordshire Genealogy web site.

Following my recent post about the future of the site I have identified the following ares where mothballing can immediately be applied. In most cases this will have little immediate effect on what you can do - as the "restrictions" have effectively been in place for most of this year because the time I have been able to spend on running the site has been limited.

Area Mothballed		Nature and extent of "mothballing"
Answers to Questions Re: updates to old queries		All answers were made using resources given at the date given, which in some cases maybe before the censuses became available online. Answers given more than 2 years ago should be considered to be "mothballed" in that they do not refer to the latest sources. Users interested in these pages should check the more recent sources for themselves before asking any supplementary questions. However additional information, based on your own research, is always welcome.
Books on Hertfordshire Re: Reviews of new books		The vast majority of books reviewed on this web site form part of my personal library of Hertfordshire material. There is already a good coverage of the better known older books. There are no funds (beyond my own pension) to extend the library to include recently published or further second-hand material. As such it is impossible to cover the torrent of new books, booklets, etc., produced by individual historians, local history societies and other organisations unless review copies are supplied.
A Guide to Old Hertfordshire		This map interface was set up some time ago as an alternative to the Places menu. However user statistics at the time suggested that place pages were more likely to be accessed via the menus, via Find It, or directly through search engines such as google. The current system works for towns and villages, and will continue to be available. It will not be extended to cover hamlets and major buildings.
Key Web Sites Re: Links to external web sites		This web site contains a very large number of links to external web sites, and in some cases descriptive pages. Current resources do not allow these links and pages to be regularly checked and updated - and many pages on this site may contain an old description of the external web site. Please notify me of any external links which no longer work.
Men at Work Re: No requests for action from users		Over the years a number of updates have been started, sometimes on an experimental basis, and as no one expressed interest in the work being completed the original "Men at Work" warning is still in place. This includes cases where a book page has been started with a message to say a review will be provided on request. All such instances are being mothballed until such time as there is a clear user-driven interest in the update being completed.
Tutorial		I started to set up this tutorial many years ago, but work stopped when it was found that the demand for an online tutorial was insufficient to justify the time completing the exercise. It is now out of date as the external web sites it refers to have changed. However as it contains extensive information on the Lewin family of St Albans, and examples of how useful a family bible can be, it has been decided to keep it online

Recent statistics, etc., will be looked at over the next few months to identify when the work load of running and maintaining the site can be minimized.

Your comments on which parts of the web site you find most useful will play an important role in deciding which areas of the site will get the most favourable treatment and which will end up being mothballed.

The Future of the Genealogy in Hertfordshire Web Site

Lucy

For me today is a rather special anniversary. Thirty years ago this morning my eldest daughter Lucy went shopping in nearby Aylesbury. About three hours later a policeman called to say that a young lady carrying my daughter's bank book had died. The resulting post-traumatic stress led to my abandoning some very interesting research and taking early retirement from a university career. I have decided to take this anniversary to reviewing what I can do with what is left of my twilight years. 

This decision clearly affects the future of the Genealogy in Hertfordshire web site, including the Guide to Old Hertfordshire, the associated newsletter, and the private reference library of Hertfordshire material I set up to help me answer questions.

So first to review the history of the site and the current situation. 

Picture of the Hoy family of Barkway - Can you help?

Margaret write: My father Leonard Andrews was grandson of Edwin Andrews and Martha Hoy.  This photo he claimed was the Hoy family and taken around 1910/1914 I would guess by the age of my grandfather who is standing at the back next to my grandmother I think!  Perhaps someone who recognise the garden it was obviously quite large with anise seat around a tree. If anyone recognises this as a garden in Barkway this would be interesting.

Let me know if you can throw any light on who is in the picture and who any of the people are. The 1911 census shows that Alfred Hoy (35, farm labourer), his wife Frances (28) and son Ernest (1, born at Royston) were living at Newsells, Barkway.

Are you interested in doing research on St Albans Abbey?

Click Here for more 100 year old views of the Abbey

I have just discovered that if you would like to get an M.A. degree on St Albans Abbey without having to pay any tuition fees you have about two weeks to get in an application. It would be supervised by the University of Hertfordshire and involve working in the Cathedral archives. Projects may cover the following themes:

1. The heritage, restoration and material culture of the Abbey from the 19^th century to the present day;
2. The Abbey's role in charity, the poor law, and the wider community in the 19^th and 20^th centuries;
3. The Cult of Saints in recent history.

For details see: http://www.herts.ac.uk/regional-history/study-with-us

The 1939 National Register is coming ...

Census

In September 1939 the government produced a register in order to issue National Identity Cards during the war, and the register was later used for rationing and even later as the basis for the registration for the National Health Service. The register records name, address and occupation and is important because the 1931 census records were destroyed during the war, and no census was held in 1941 because of the War,  (The 1921 census exists but is not due to be released until 2022, and the 1951 census will not be released until 2052)

The 1939 register has been released for publication in digitized form and will be available from 2nd November on FindMyPast. I expect the service will be overloaded over the first few days but look forward to looking at my own record, which should show me living in a shop in Swain Street, Watchet, Somerset, as my parents had moved from Hertfordshire a few months earlier.

How to Search the Register

If you use it to find something interesting about your Hertfordshire ancestors why not post  details as a comment below.

Carte de Visite by Atlas Church, St Albans

Atlas Belus Church, and his son, Atlas Robert Church, seem to have taken on the studio of J. Barnard in New London Road about 1880 and only been there for two or three years before moving on. 

I only know of two examples of their St Albans work - and neither have properly printed backs or footings. (More Info.)

If you know of other examples of their work while at St Albans please let me know.

Dating Early Photographs by Latchmore, of Hitchin

Advert from Herts Express 4 April, 1867

This advert has helped me to date Thomas B Latchmore' early carte de visit as follows:

• 1865 Opened studio in Bancroft Street, Hitchin - distinctive back
• 1867 Opened a joint studio in Royston - distinctive back
• 1869? Opened another studio in Stevenage - no back known 
• 1870 Took over George Avery's studio in Brand Street, Hitchin - distinctive back. Studios in Hitchin and Royston apparently abandoned.

More Information

Herts Family History Society this Saturday

Just a quick reminder that the monthly meeting at Woolmer Green on Saturday, 24th October,  is:

In Grandfather's Footsteps

The speaker is Anne Grimshaw and  relates to the First World War

Hertfordshire Military Records on the British Newspaper Archive

The Army & Navy Gazette is currently being loaded onto the British Newspaper Archive and so far they have loaded the years 1860-66 and 1869-71 and I expect more years will soon appear online. I did a quick check and found many such as the following which relates to the formation of the 1st Hertfordshire Battalion.

Army & Navy Gazette, 4th August, 1860

Unfortunately the machine transcription left a lot to be desired - and errors in the above example meant that it would not have been found in searches for the place names Ashridge, Hemel, Hempstead, Tring and Watford or for the surnames Dorrien, Cust, and Pearce. Unfortunately such errors occur in all automatically scanned newspaper archives and you have to use your imagination when searching and try alternative search names.

However the accuracy of the surnames and places in the following item relating to the double marriage of the daughters of the late Mr John Beale, of Cheshunt, was satisfactory.

Army & Navy Gazette, 4th November 1869

War Memorial, New Mill Baptist Church, Tring

First World War Memorial, New Mill Baptist Church

I recently visited the New Mill Baptist Church, Tring, when they were celebrating their newly refurbished church hall, I used the occasion to take the above photograph of their war memorial. For other pictures I took of the church (inside and outside, with some other memorials and gravestones) see Pictures on Geograph.

Click on picture for more information on the Baptists in Tring.