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Ask the Expert – lost at sea

Our resident expert Stephen Rigden, pictured below, answers your queries.

From Linda Durr:

‘I wonder if you could help me please. On Saturday April 17 1938 there appeared an article in the Lowestoft Journal about an engineer, Sidney Howe, who mysteriously disappeared while the fishing vessel was returning from the fishing grounds off Morecambe Bay Lightship in the West Coast. I can find no more information about this.

I was told that there would have had to have been an inquest when the vessel returned to Lowestoft. The ship was the SDT Ramsey BayLT1290 skipper and owner was Mr. D.N Randlesome, 88 Crown Street, Lowestoft.

I know that my grandma, mother and aunt were paid some insurance money from Lowestoft County Court but there is no date on the copy I received. Did they have to wait seven years before he was declared dead and the money paid out? Hoping you might be able to throw some light on this mystery.’

Stephen says:

‘Thanks for this interesting enquiry. I did a little background research on the internet and found out that Chief Engineer Sidney Howe disappeared from the trawler – presumed lost overboard and drowned – on 14 April 1937. If the Lowestoft Journal article is from April the following year 1938, as per your email, presumably it was published after the inquest.

In any event, there would be two possibilities for a peacetime death at sea in British waters. Some deaths can be expected to have been registered at the port at which the vessel docked upon its return to shore (in this case, Lowestoft).

The majority, however, should appear in the series of General Register Office death indexes known as marine deaths. I searched these, and sure enough the death of a Sidney G Howe is shown in the GRO marine death indexes for 1936/37, aged 46, on the “Ramsay Bay”. You can, therefore, apply for a copy of the death certificate which, on the face of it, would seem to have been issued in 1937 (although it is possible that the index is one of GRO’s periodic cumulative revisions including later entries alongside contemporary ones).

In any case, if you apply for the death certificate – which you can do online at http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates – the certificate will give the date of death and the date of registration.

The notion that seven years had to pass comes from the so-called Benjamin Order, used in probate matters, which is a presumption of death after seven years (its name comes from a 1902 court case which set the precedent). I doubt that seven years had to elapse before life insurance monies were paid out in this particular instance – as soon as the death certificate was issued, a claim should have been feasible. In any event, the date of registration of death given in the death certificate will give you the very earliest date that a claim could have been made.

You can search the marine deaths on findmypast.co.uk’

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 – medal citation

Our resident military expert Paul Nixon, pictured below, answers your queries.

From Charles Arthur Wanostrocht in Kent:

‘My grandfather, 25430 Cpl. Charles Arthur Wanostrocht, serving with the 26th.Field Coy. Royal Engineers, was killed in the Boer War on the railway near Naaboomspruit on 4 July 1901. He was gazetted for the Distinguished Conduct Medal in the London Gazette of 26 June 1902.

Despite extensive enquiries, including the R.E.Museum at Chatham and the Imperial War Museum, I have been unable to trace the original citation for this medal (although other sources confirm the award). I would be most grateful for any information – medal lists for the Boer War, relevant website etc. – which would enable me to find this citation.’

Paul says:

‘J B Hayward and Sons published Recipients of The Distinguished Conduct Medal 1855-1909 in 1987 and a note in that book for Arthur Wanostrocht notes “details PRO WO108/158″. This will be a file of correspondence relating to honours and awards and could have a letter from his Commanding Officer detailing the nature of the award.

My thanks to Meurig Jones for supplying this information. Meurig’s Anglo Boer War database containing over 258,000 names is published on findmypast.co.uk.

As far as accessing the original record at The National Archives is concerned, you will need to hire a researcher to do this for you.’

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 – seamen's schoolmaster

Our resident military expert Paul Nixon, pictured below, answers your queries.

From Carol Dyer in New Zealand:

‘My great grandfather was on the Odin as ‘seamen’s schoolmaster’ in about 1855. He is listed as receiving a medal for service in the Crimea.

1. What would his job entail?
2. What was the Odin doing in the Crimea? I can’t find many references to her.’

Paul says:

‘The rating of Seamen’s Schoolmaster was covered in a memorandum issued by the Admirality on 15 May 1837. It was introduced as a result of the desire of the Lord Commissioners of the Admiralty who were, “anxious to extend the advantages of education to the Petty Officers, Seamen, Marines, and Boys of the Fleet” by appointing one Seamen’s Schoolmaster “in every ship of His Majesty’s Navy.” The memorandum continued:

“The person to fill this rating is to be entered or selected by the Commanding Officer of the Ship, with the approbation of their Lordships. Vacancies occurring abroad may be filled up from the ship’s company, if a person properly qualified be found on board; if not, one may be taken from any other ship with the consent of his Commanding Officer, and the approbation of the senior Officer present.”

The Seamen’s Schoolmaster was to be “competent to teach Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, viz., the first four rules, the ‘Rule of Three, Vulgar and Decimal Fractions, Logarithmic Arithmetic, Plane Trigonometry, and to keep a ship’s reckoning at sea.”

Commanding Officers of His Majesty’s Ships were obliged to allow as many boys and men who wanted to be taught, provided this did not interfere with the “proper discharge of the duties of the ship.”

So the rating of Seamen’s Schoolmaster was an uncommon one, and one presumes that medals awarded to Seamen Schoolmasters would command a premium. As for HMS Odin, according to Wikipedia, she was a steam-powered first class paddle steamer launched in 1846 and armed with 16 guns: two 68-pounders, ten 32-pounders and four ten-inch. The ship took part in the bombardment and siege of Sebastopol in 1855, having left Spithead on the 27th February that year. I hope this helps with your research.’

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 – seamen’s schoolmaster

Our resident military expert Paul Nixon, pictured below, answers your queries.

From Carol Dyer in New Zealand:

‘My great grandfather was on the Odin as ‘seamen’s schoolmaster’ in about 1855. He is listed as receiving a medal for service in the Crimea.

1. What would his job entail?
2. What was the Odin doing in the Crimea? I can’t find many references to her.’

Paul says:

‘The rating of Seamen’s Schoolmaster was covered in a memorandum issued by the Admirality on 15 May 1837. It was introduced as a result of the desire of the Lord Commissioners of the Admiralty who were, “anxious to extend the advantages of education to the Petty Officers, Seamen, Marines, and Boys of the Fleet” by appointing one Seamen’s Schoolmaster “in every ship of His Majesty’s Navy.” The memorandum continued:

“The person to fill this rating is to be entered or selected by the Commanding Officer of the Ship, with the approbation of their Lordships. Vacancies occurring abroad may be filled up from the ship’s company, if a person properly qualified be found on board; if not, one may be taken from any other ship with the consent of his Commanding Officer, and the approbation of the senior Officer present.”

The Seamen’s Schoolmaster was to be “competent to teach Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, viz., the first four rules, the ‘Rule of Three, Vulgar and Decimal Fractions, Logarithmic Arithmetic, Plane Trigonometry, and to keep a ship’s reckoning at sea.”

Commanding Officers of His Majesty’s Ships were obliged to allow as many boys and men who wanted to be taught, provided this did not interfere with the “proper discharge of the duties of the ship.”

So the rating of Seamen’s Schoolmaster was an uncommon one, and one presumes that medals awarded to Seamen Schoolmasters would command a premium. As for HMS Odin, according to Wikipedia, she was a steam-powered first class paddle steamer launched in 1846 and armed with 16 guns: two 68-pounders, ten 32-pounders and four ten-inch. The ship took part in the bombardment and siege of Sebastopol in 1855, having left Spithead on the 27th February that year. I hope this helps with your research.’

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!

August newsletter competition winner

We’ve picked the winner of our August newsletter competition in which we asked you this question:

‘What is the name of Seb Coe’s paternal great-grandfather?’

Congratulations go to Lynne Nurhonen who correctly answered ‘Robert Coe’. Lynne wins a year’s subscription to Who Do You Think You Are? magazine.

Lynne found out the answer by reading our research into Seb Coe’s past.

Thanks to all of you who entered – look out for the next competition question in our September newsletter, coming very soon.

BBC One seeks families to step back in time

Would you and your family like to follow in your ancestors’ footsteps in a unique living history experience?

BBC One’s hit living history series Turn Back Time is back! Last year shopkeepers were sent back in time on the British High Street. This year the series looks at family life through the ages and the hunt is on for families to travel through time and experience a century of change first hand.

The series will take a street of houses back to the turn of the century and, over the course of several weeks, will fast forward the families through the 20th century. In an exciting new twist, some of the families’ journeys will even be based on their own family history! Over the course of the century, the street’s community will evolve and reflect change in British society, so the programme would like to hear from a broad range of British families.

Turn Back Time is made by the company behind Who Do You Think You Are? They are looking for people who would love to learn about their family history but don’t know much already – they want to take you on a journey of discovery. Ideally your family will include at least one child aged under 20. Filming will be in Spring 2012.

If you’d like to find out more, please contact Caroline Miller on 020 7241 9292 or at caroline.miller@walltowall.co.uk

Findmypast.co.uk launches the Manchester Collection

For the first time ever, findmypast.co.uk has launched a collection of records that relate to an entire city. The Manchester Collection provides an insightful snapshot into what life was like in the city of Manchester.

The records in the collection provide information about apprentices, cemetery records, industrial school registers, parish register transcripts, prison, school and workhouse registers.

You could make vital discoveries about your family’s past – whether you are aware of a Manchester connection or not – and these records provide rich information about how your ancestors lived.

Further details about the records are as follows:

While searching the prison registers, we found a record for Cyrus Travis who was found guilty of attempting to murder his wife, Ellen, in 1864. Cyrus had tried to feed Ellen a cake containing bent pins and antimony, but was unsuccessful and was promptly arrested for his crime. Cyrus was sentenced to 20 years of penal servitude – view his record below:

Click to enlarge

Find out more about Cyrus and the Manchester Collection on Gerard Lodge’s Manchester Family History Research website

Findmypast.co.uk is proud to be working in association with Manchester City Council’s Library and Information Service to bring you the Manchester Collection.

Search the Manchester Collection now

Family photos: the family photo album

Welcome to the ninth in our series of blogs about how to understand and interpret your old family photos. In this series, Jayne Shrimpton, internationally recognised dress historian, portrait specialist, photo detective and regular contributor to Family Tree, Your Family History and Family History Monthly magazines, dates and analyses different types of photographs and helps you to add context to your old family pictures.

Jayne Shrimpton

Some family historians are fortunate enough to possess not only old photographs, but the original 19th and 20th century photograph albums in which they were stored and displayed. This blog focuses on these special family heirlooms, explaining their origins, describing their changing styles and suggesting how best to investigate inherited albums and their contents.

Early photograph albums

Before the introduction of cartes de visite – the first mass-produced, printed photographs (see blog one) – early photographic prints had sometimes been pasted into general scrapbooks. It was the new craze for collecting standard visiting-card sized card-mounted cartes, however, that inspired the production of the purpose-designed photograph albums that were the precursors of today’s family albums.

The first albums were produced in France in 1857/8, by which time the carte de visite (patented there in 1854) was becoming fashionable. Entrepreneurs across the English Channel were quick to seize this new business opportunity and photograph albums were being advertised in the British trade press by 1861. This was the year that witnessed an explosion in carte de visite sales, the phenomenon known as ‘cartomania’. The active promotion of and growing interest in the novel albums in turn encouraged the taking and collecting of more photographs. During the early 1860s, cartes were known as ‘album portraits’, demonstrating the close connection between these new photographs and the fashion for displaying them in albums.

The public enjoyed collecting ‘celebrity’ cartes – images of famous and influential figures of the day, including royalty, aristocrats, politician, statesmen, singers and actors and writers. Souvenir cartes depicting picturesque views from around the country were also popular, for example, the much-publicised photographs of the Wigan broo wenches and pitgirls wearing their distinctive outfits. The main interest, however, was in personal family photographs – studio portraits of members of the household and other relatives, which were given, exchanged and collected on an unprecedented scale.

The first photograph albums were made with heavy leather bindings and sturdy metal clasps, looking externally much like the traditional family bible or hymn book – see fig.1. Inside it was usual to include a ‘page one’ carte de visite – a frontispiece with a message or (often humorous) verses addressed to the family members and friends who were about to view the album (fig.2). The main album pages featured pre-cut carte-sized apertures for the convenient arrangement and display of photographs, larger albums offering space for four cartes de visite per page and those of the smallest dimensions just one carte per page.

A respectable and fashionable ornament

Substantial and handsomely-presented albums were recognised as ideal gifts at Christmas and for birthdays, especially coming of age, particularly for ladies, who were generally the keepers of the family records. Many surviving examples, like fig.1, are helpfully inscribed with the date, occasion and name of the recipient. Because of their clever design, albums commanded a sense of almost religious respect and before long it was suggested that they might replace the existing practice of noting family births, marriages and deaths inside the family bible.

The repository of much that the family held dear, photograph albums also became desirable material possessions – attractive ornaments for the home. By the end of 1861, elegantly-bound albums were said to have become ‘one of the indispensable ornaments of every lady’s table.’ As with any novelty, the more prosperous classes were the first to acquire the new photograph albums, but over time, as portrait photography became more widespread and prices came down, even some ordinary working families could boast a treasured family album.

Late 19th century albums

Later albums produced from the 1880s onwards often contained pages with two sizes of apertures for the display of both cartes de visite and cabinet prints – a feature that helps with identifying late-Victorian albums. The larger cabinet card had been introduced in 1866 but take-up was slow and the format only became popular in the 1880s, going on to rival the carte during the 1890s and at the turn of the century.

The styles of album bindings also changed over the years, as seen by comparing fig.1 with fig.4: sometimes velvet or plush (cotton velvet) – both fashionable materials in the late 19th century – was used for the covers, while the pages inside grew ever more elaborate as fashionable taste veered increasingly towards the ornate. In many late-Victorian albums, the frontispiece and sometimes additional pages were embellished with coloured illustrations (fig.5) and the photographs themselves might be decoratively framed with a painted border of flowers or other themed motifs (fig.6).

As the fashion grew for keeping and displaying family photographs in albums, special albums were developed for particular types of photograph. Some commercial photographers, for example, astutely produced ‘Baby’s Album,’ encouraging doting parents to commission annual photographs of their offspring throughout their childhood and adolescence, to record and proudly demonstrate their growth and development. Some albums were designed to hold portraits of the dead – macabre images known as post mortem photographs. Wedding albums were said to be much in vogue in 1889 and a number survive from around this time onwards. Purchased by the bride and filled with photographs of members of the bridal party, the autograph of each person might be written beneath their respective portrait.

Studying Victorian photo albums

Album collections were generally started by one ancestor then passed down the family, later generations sometimes adding new photographs to those already within. Surviving Victorian albums may, then, contain an assortment of photographs potentially spanning four or more decades, although surviving evidence suggests that often the majority of photographs inside were taken within a decade or so of the year of the album’s acquisition. If the date was recorded inside the cover, this gives a useful starting point for dating and identifying the photos inside.

An inherited photograph album, heavy and fragile, can seem a mixed blessing: where on earth do you start with investigating the contents? The positioning of photographs within the album may at first appear random, but there was usually a purpose to their initial arrangement on the pages. Portraits of husbands and wives, in particular, were typically displayed alongside each other, and on the same or adjacent pages were often inserted pictures of any children, while photographs of other family members branched out further throughout the album. There was no fixed method, however, and family relationships and connections expressed in the different photographs may take some time to unravel, but since their organisation can often offer important historical evidence, it is important to respect and preserve the original order within the album.

Usually the cartes de visite or cabinet prints inside an album are tightly fitted into their apertures, so any printed details at the foot or on the reverse of the mounts is concealed. As we saw in blogs two and three, investigating the photographer and studying the design of the mount can help with dating and identifying unlabelled photographs, while the studio location gives a useful clue as to where the subject(s) probably lived. Sometimes albums span different continents, especially in cases where family members emigrated and sent photographs back to those remaining at home, so it is important to know exactly where each photograph within an album was taken to locate their geographical origins and understand more about their purpose.

Sometimes the owners of old Victorian albums were worried about taking photographs out of their apertures in case they tear the delicate paper. This is a difficult issue: a conservator would probably advise not to remove them, yet in the interests of accurate research, photographs need to be studied properly, front and back, to collect all their nuggets of information. If the aperture edges and album pages in general are already damaged, it is unlikely that you can do a great deal more harm. If you do decide to take the plunge, remove each photograph carefully one at a time, using a pair of tweezers, scan the photograph front and back so that the original doesn’t have to be handled again, then replace it in its original position within the album.

Family snapshot albums

As we saw in blog eight, by the early 20th century amateur photography was becoming popular, with many families acquiring a ‘modern’ roll-film camera, and this gave rise to a new type of snapshot album. Generally these albums were plainer and slimmer than the solid and ornate Victorian bible-like volumes and sometimes the front cover bore the name of the manufacturer, such as Kodak or Ogden’s (fig.s 7-9). Naturally many more of these snapshot albums survive in today’s family collections.

Albums dating from the 1900s to the 1920s may be relatively small, their pages typically formed of thick card with pre-cut apertures designed to take the neat contact prints of the era. By the 1930s and 1940s, albums of larger dimensions were becoming more usual, the pages often thinner and left plain so that printed snapshots of various sizes could be arranged inside.

As in the Victorian period, snapshot albums were frequently given as Christmas or birthday presents, so there may be a helpful inscription and date inside the front cover. Many of the photographs inside are likely to date from soon after the year that the album was acquired, although there was more of a tendency to add extra snaps for some years afterwards. It was also quite common for the photographer or the relative compiling the album to write details of the date, occasion and names of the people in the scene on the back of the print, or directly onto the album page (fig.8).

Fig.1 Leather-bound carte de visite photograph album, presented in 1863 - click to enlarge. This early photograph album was presented in 1863 as a 30th birthday gift to a female ancestor and was later passed down through the family. Note the characteristic bible-like presentation, with leather bindings and stout metal clasps. (Jon Easter)

Fig.2 ‘Page one’ carte de visite from 1863 album - click to enlarge. This frontispiece from the 1863 album, itself a carte de visite, shows how an early album might be displayed at home amongst other fashionable ornaments. A message advises that only those prepared to contribute their portraits may view the contents. (Jon Easter)

Fig. 3 Carte de visite portrait c.1862-65 from 1863 album - click to enlarge. The album in fig.1 contained dozens of cartes de visite dating from the 1860s and early 1870s. This photograph of a middle-aged or elderly gentleman wearing a conservative frock coat is dateable to c.1862-5. (Jon Easter)

Fig.4 Late-Victorian photograph album, presented in 1886 - click to enlarge. An inscription inside this album states that it was presented by one lady to another in 1886. Inside the pages have small and larger apertures, to take both the cartes de visite and cabinet prints that were popular by the late 19th century. (Fiona Adams)

Fig.5 Title page from the 1886 album - click to enlarge. This coloured title page is typical of the 1880s and 1890s, when many albums were highly-decorated with flowers and other fashionable designs. (Fiona Adams)

Fig.6 Sample page from the 1886 album - click to enlarge. This page from the 1886 album displays a cabinet print dating to the late 1880s or early 1890s. The oval aperture has been elaborately framed with a painted floral border. This is characteristic of many late-Victorian albums. (Fiona Adams)

Fig.7 Ogden’s snapshots photograph album, 1909 - click to enlarge. This slim snapshots album was inscribed inside the cover with the date, 1909. Most of the photographs displayed within date from the late-Edwardian and First World War eras. (Fiona Adams)

Fig.8 Page from 1909 snapshots album - click to enlarge. Early 20th century albums often had pre-cut apertures for the small prints of the age, although here the central photo has been stuck onto the page. As was common with many snapshot albums, the photographs have been identified on the album pages. (Fiona Adams)

Fig.9 Snapshots album, 1913-14 - click to enlarge. This family album, begun in 1913 and completed in 1914, provides an interesting and personal record of a baby’s first year in New York and her family’s journey from the United States to visit relatives in England. (Claire Dulanty)

Fig.10 Snapshot, 1914, from 1913-14 album - click to enlarge. This snapshot from the 1913-14 album was taken in July 1914 on board ship en route to England and shows the photograph owner’s mother as a baby in a pram, with her nanny and father. (Claire Dulanty)

Recommended reading

Little has been published about old photograph albums but there is some information in these books:

The Victorians: Photographic Portraits, Audrey Linkman (Tauris Parke, 1993)

How to get the most from Family Pictures, Jayne Shrimpton (Society of Genealogists, 2011)

The site is up and running again

We’ve fixed the nasty bugs that brought down the site. Thanks for bearing with us – time to get back on the search!

Search new Gwent burial records

You can now search more than 1,600 new Gwent burial records on findmypast.co.uk

Full details of this exciting record release are as follows:

• Type of record: burials
• Number of records: 1,676
• Period covered: 1661-1901
• County: Monmouthshire
• Parish: Llanover

Findmypast.co.uk is working in partnership with the Gwent Family History Society to bring you access to your Welsh ancestors.

Search for your Welsh ancestors now