Blog
Archive for October, 2010
Behind the scenes: our expert, Stephen Rigden, on spelling variations
I’m findmypast.co.uk’s records development manager and resident genealogy expert. As well as answering your ‘Ask the Expert’ queries, I work with archives, family history societies and other owners of original historical records to digitise these for findmypast.co.uk
Recently I’ve been reviewing our Chelsea Pensioner data so as to understand and think about how we can go about enhancing it.
Stephen Rigden
The Chelsea Pensioner records extend over 150 years – from 1760 to 1913 – and those up to the middle of the 19th century are, in some ways, especially interesting from a data point of view. At that time, spelling of place names had not quite settled and been standardised, at least not the spelling as used within the British Army. In some ways this is inconvenient but in others it provides an intriguing insight into local history.
Many of the soldiers’ places of birth are given and spelt phonetically by the recruits or the recruiting sergeant on the attestation and discharge papers which form the surviving service record.
This week I have been looking at the places of birth of soldiers born in my home county of Kent. This requires some thinking about the local accent and local pronunciation of place names. For instance, ‘Settingbourne’ sometimes appears instead of Sittingbourne (older members of my own family still say ‘set’ instead of ‘sit’). Similarly, Erith is sometimes spelt ‘Earith’ and ‘Eariff’, which gives a close approximation to the way it is pronounced locally.
On one occasion it appears aspirated (if that is the right word), as ‘Hereif’. This is a common fate of Kentish places beginning with a vowel and, therefore, tempting the local to add a leading H. For example, occasionally Eltham can become ‘Heltham’, Eynsford becomes ‘Hainsford’, Eythorne is ‘Haythorne’, Ide Hill is rendered as ‘Hide Hill’, Iwade metamorphoses into ‘Highwade’, Ulcombe becomes ‘Hulcombe’, etc.
The reverse process also occurs, where a required initial H is dropped: Hadlow becomes ‘Adlow’, Halstead becomes ‘Alstead’, Harbledown turns into ‘Arbledown’, Headcorn becomes the delightful ‘Edcorn’ and so on. These are not transcription errors but bona fide reflections of what is written in the original papers.
Sometimes the spelling can tell you how a place was (and often is still) pronounced. For example, there are a number of villages in Kent called Boughton. The ‘ough’ combination of letters in English can be pronounced in a variety of different ways – think of ‘bough’ (of a tree) ‘cough’, ‘though’, ‘nought’ and so on. Here in Kent, however, this place name is always pronounced as it is sometimes spelt in the Chelsea Pensioners, as ‘Borton’. We know this as the qualifier can be present: ‘Borton Aluph’ instead of Boughton Aluph, or ‘Borton Mallet’ instead of Boughton Malherbe.
Kentish pronunciation also has a tendency to run letters together and not trouble to pronounce some letters or syllables. Thus we get ‘Harrisham’ instead of Harrietsham, ‘Harcus’ instead of Hawkhurst, ‘Lamhurst’ instead of Lamberhurst, and ‘Trosley’ instead of Trottiscliffe. Other places have changed over time. Today’s Molash usually appears in Chelsea Pensioners records as ‘Moldash’, while in the older records Faversham is often shown as ‘Feversham’.
Understanding this sort of variation in spelling and departure from received pronunciation – and especially the adding or subtraction of an H at the start of a word – can be helpful when researching your family history as of course it applies equally to personal names just as to place names.
Take our Christmas survey and win a digital camera!
What are your Christmas plans this year? Complete our survey and you could win an early present for yourself – a digital camera!
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Back to Our Past competition winners
Thanks to everyone who came to visit the findmypast.co.uk stand at the Back to Our Past fair in Dublin last weekend, and especially to those of you who entered our competition. We can now reveal the names of our lucky winners (drum roll, please!)…
Winners of 12 month Full subscriptions: Ronald Tucker, Heather Gandola and Marcella Ryan
Winners of 6 month Full subscriptions: Ann Clarke, Laura Gannon, Rory O’Kennedy, Sharon White, Ed Penrose and Kathleen Glennon.
Congratulations to all of you and we hope you enjoy your subscriptions!
Look out for November's issue of Discover My Past Scotland
The next issue of Discover My Past Scotland magazine goes online on Thursday 28 October.
This 40-page A4 issue is packed with special features and how-to guides to connect you with your Scottish Heritage, including:
- Scotland the brave – our ancestors’ military history
- Latter-day Saints – an invaluable genealogy resource
- Lumber Jills – unsung heroines of war
- Collectors for the crown – customs & excise records
- The generation game – a first-time foray into family history
- Spotlight on Peebles
- Expert Q&A
- Family history newsround, library and events
Find out more about Discover My Past Scotland
Look out for November’s issue of Discover My Past Scotland
The next issue of Discover My Past Scotland magazine goes online on Thursday 28 October.
This 40-page A4 issue is packed with special features and how-to guides to connect you with your Scottish Heritage, including:
- Scotland the brave – our ancestors’ military history
- Latter-day Saints – an invaluable genealogy resource
- Lumber Jills – unsung heroines of war
- Collectors for the crown – customs & excise records
- The generation game – a first-time foray into family history
- Spotlight on Peebles
- Expert Q&A
- Family history newsround, library and events
Find out more about Discover My Past Scotland
Army List 1787 published: over 9,000 new records
We have just published the Army List 1787 on findmypast.co.uk. This list contains 9,560 records.
When you view these records you’ll be able to see your ancestor’s name, rank, regiment and page number. Often there are also extra notes for each soldier, for example, if they served in the Infantry, and what pay they received.
These records are an excellent way of building up a picture of your military ancestors. The Queensland Family History Society provided us with these records. The QFHS is a member of the Federation of Family History Societies.
Search the Army List 1787 for your military ancestors now.
Ask the Expert – MoD archives
Our resident expert Stephen Rigden, pictured below, answers your queries.
From Michael Tench in Shropshire:
‘I would like to find the military records for my Uncle James Goodfellow who served in WWII as a bulldozer driver in France and Belgium. I do not know the regiment but expect it was the Engineers. He never married and I registered his death on 24 February 1978 in Shrewsbury. He was born on 13 July 1911 in Shawbury near Wem in Shropshire.
He was my mother’s young brother and lived with us for most of his life. He would never talk about his service but we believe he was reduced to Private from Corporal while in or around Paris somewhere. How do I go about finding his service record? Where do I go and what details do I need to send for them? Thanks.’
Stephen says:
‘Thanks for your question. For army personnel who served after 1921, it is necessary to write to the Ministry of Defence archives, as the documentation is not in the public domain. The records are held in Glasgow and full application information can be found on the official MoD website. There is also a PDF file for family historians which you can download.
You will need to apply in writing, explain your kinship to the deceased serviceman, provide a copy of the death certificate and pay the statutory fee. I understand that it can take several months for a response.’
If you’d like to send your question to our experts, please register or opt to receive newsletters in My Account. Unfortunately our experts only have time to answer a few queries each month. If yours wasn’t answered this time, you could be lucky next month!
Ask the Expert – missing Chelsea Pensioner
Our resident expert Stephen Rigden, pictured below, answers your queries.
From Angela Dalby in Gillingham, Kent:
‘My ancestor by marriage, Edward Dalby, was born on 14 June 1839 in St. Mildred’s, Canterbury, Kent and he joined the Metropolitan police in 1873. His police records state that previous to this he was in the 7th Hussars for seven years and 313 days and the Kent County Constabulary for three years and 147 days. I can find a date of 5 January 1868 for him joining the local police constabulary so the seven years army record must be between 1859-1867?
The puzzle is that I can find no army records of service for him in the recently published Chelsea Pensioners records, unlike his father, another Edward Dalby. This Edward was born in Uppingham, Rutland 1766 and was in the army for 28 years. I have the full set of records for him. The family disappear from Canterbury in the 1861 census including Edward’s mother Elizabeth (born in Ireland in 1820), his brother Joseph born in St. Mildred’s in 1846 and also Edward senior.
Were the 7th Hussars based out of this country or am I looking in the wrong index lists? Any help would be much appreciated.’
Stephen says:
‘The 7th (Queen’s Own) Hussars were indeed out of England during the period 1859 to 1867 – they were on active service in British India from 1858 and did not return to England until 1871. The fact that Edward Dalby, your ancestor by marriage, joined the Kent police in January 1868 suggests either that he had enlisted for seven years and that those seven years were completed while in India in or before 1867 (probably in fact a year or two before 1865), or that he had left the regiment in India early due to injury or ill-health.
In any event, the records contained within The National Archives’ series WO97 relate to servicemen who were pensioned out of the army, irrespective of whether they were serving in the British Isles or overseas. We have now completed the publication of these Chelsea Pensioner records, which cover over one million men. This record series contains the majority of surviving records for pensioned soldiers but by no means all.
As you may know, findmypast.co.uk is currently in the process of digitising the WO96 Militia service records but we are also planning to publish in 2011 some other smaller TNA datasets which relate to Chelsea Pensioners or their equivalents. It is, therefore, worth keeping an eye open for the new datasets as they are released and re-checking the website regularly.’
If you’d like to send your question to our experts, please register or opt to receive newsletters in My Account. Unfortunately our experts only have time to answer a few queries each month. If yours wasn’t answered this time, you could be lucky next month!
Ask the Expert – Wiltshire regiment
Our military expert Paul Nixon, pictured below, answers your queries.
From Veronica Scarborough:
‘I am trying to find out where and when my grandfather joined the army. I always believed he joined while in South Africa as he was working there on the railways when WWI started but on his records it says he enlisted in Gravesend, Kent. All I know about him are the following details: his name was James Barrett, born in Highworth, Wiltshire in 1867. He was a corporal in the Wiltshire regiment and died in France in September 1915. I would also like to know where in France he was serving. Where can I find this information please?’
Paul says:
’7073 Cpl James Barrett of the 2nd Battalion, Wiltshire Regt, died of wounds on 28 September 1915. He was born in Highworth, Wiltshire and was living at Gravesend, Kent when he enlisted. He joined the Wiltshire Regiment at Swindon in the second half of 1904. He arrived in France on 20 October 1914 and is buried in Chocques Military Cemetery in France. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission notes that, ‘Chocques was occupied by Commonwealth forces from the late autumn of 1914 to the end of the war. The village was at one time the headquarters of I Corps and from January 1915 to April 1918, No.1 Casualty Clearing Station was posted there. Most of the burials from this period are of casualties who died at the clearing station from wounds received at the Bethune front.
War diary entries for the 2nd Wiltshires around this time read:
“27th – France, trenches
Early in the morning the Comdg Offr Major CD Forsyth was given to understand that the 1/4th Cameron Highrs needed immediate support, and at once ordered the Battn across the open to reinforce the 1/4th Cameron Highrs. This was done under heavy rifle & machine gun fire, and the Battn again suffered heavy losses. Capt EC Mudge & Capt WM Geddes were killed, also 2/Lt E Schultz, who had got safely into the 1/4th Cameron Highrs trench got out again to give directions to some men coming on behind and was shot in the head. Major CG Forsyth was wounded in the thigh, but remained in command. The morning was misty, and several men of each Coy took the wrong direction. These Major CG Forsyth collected in the trench we had vacated. In these positions the Battn remained until dusk, when it was possible to reorganise. The men collected by Major CG Forsyth in the trench by HULLOCH ROAD were ordered to remain. The men who had succeeded in reaching the trench held by the 1/4th Cameron Highrs were collected together in companies and placed on the Camerons left.
28th – France, trenches
We remained in our positions all day with nothing to report other than fairly heavy artillery duels. The nights became cold and wet.”
It would appear likely that Corporal Barrett died as a result of wounds sustained on the 27th, although the absence of a surviving service record makes this difficult to prove with certainty.’
If you’d like to send your question to our experts, please register or opt to receive newsletters in My Account. Unfortunately our experts only have time to answer a few queries each month. If yours wasn’t answered this time, you could be lucky next month!
October’s competition winner
We’ve picked the winner of our October competition in which we asked you this question:
‘Author Herbert George Wells was born in September 1866 in Kent. Can you tell us in which registration district he was born?’
Congratulations go to John Taylor from Cornwall who correctly answered ‘Bromley’.
John searched our fully indexed birth records to find the correct answer. He’s the lucky winner of an amazing 12 mega pixel Panasonic digital camera.
Thanks to all of you who entered – look out for the next competition question in our newsletter this Friday.