Today is Charles Dickens’ 200th birthday and to mark the occasion, we’ve been investigating the records on findmypast.co.uk to see what they can tell us about Dickens’ life.

We feel like we know Dickens a little bit better following our research - read on to find out what our records reveal about this extraordinary man.

Baptism

It seemed logical to start at the beginning, so our first stop was to search for Dickens’ baptism record. Dickens’ unusual middle name makes it easy to be sure that we’ve found the right man.

Dickens record shows that he was baptised in Portsea St Mary, Hampshire on 4 March 1812. We can also learn that Dickens’ parents are called John and Elizabeth:

Charles Dickens' baptism record - click to enlarge

Marriage

Fast-forwarding a few years, we discovered the record of Dickens’ marriage to Catherine Thomson Hogarth. The pair married in Chelsea, Middlesex on 2 April 1836:

Charles Dickens' marriage record - click to enlarge

Dickens and Catherine lived in Bloomsbury where they went on to have 10 children. Sadly, the couple separated in 1858 but never divorced; this wouldn’t have been a socially acceptable action for someone as well-known as Dickens.

Dickens in 1861

By 1861, Catherine and her son, Charles Jr, had moved out of the family home and Catherine’s sister, Georgina, was living with Dickens and the rest of the children. Georgina took Dickens’ side in his rift with Catherine and took over the running of the household.

In the same year that ‘Great Expectations’ was published, Dickens’ 1861 census return provides us with a glimpse into his life at this time. Dickens is described as ‘married’, giving away nothing of his separation from Catherine.

Dickens’ occupation is listed as ‘Author Novelist Essayist & Editor’ and Georgina is recorded as ‘Servant Housekeeper’:

Charles Dickens' 1861 census return - click to enlarge

Death

Next we found Dickens’ death record. He died on 9 June 1870 in North Aylesford, Kent - view the record here:

Charles Dickens' death record - click to enlarge

As well as this record, we unearthed a different record of Dickens’ death on findmypast.co.uk

Dickens was a shareholder in the Great Western Railway, which means that a record of his death appears in the GWR Shareholders Index.

The GWR recorded all transactions that related to shareholdings which changed hands due to an event other than a simple sale. The most common event recorded in the ledger was the death of the shareholder. When a shareholder died, their shares were passed to their beneficiaries and the executors handled the administration of the estate.

Displaying further evidence of his rift with his wife, Dickens’ record shows that his wife’s sister, Georgina, and friend, John Forster, were the executors. View this beautifully handwritten original document here:

Charles Dickens' Great Western Railway Shareholders Index record - click to enlarge

We hope you enjoyed discovering what the records on findmypast.co.uk reveal about Charles Dickens’ life.

Maureen Selley, chairman of Devon Family History Society, got in touch with us about this intriguing discovery in a 1911 census return. Is there a simple explanation, or does the record tell a more scandalous tale? Read on for Maureen’s story…

News of the release of the infirmity column of the 1911 census came at just the right time, while I was preparing for a family history slot on BBC Radio Devon. A quick trawl through my own family’s 1911 images revealed no infirmities, so I was pleased to see items in the press and in Nick Barratt’s blog mentioning a ‘stinking proud’ daughter - ideal!

Looking at the image for Richard Woodward in Avon Road, Highbury, Islington, however, I noticed that both descriptions, ‘Feeble Minded & Stinking Proud’, probably referred to Richard’s wife, who was called ‘Wife abducted’. His daughter had no name on the census return, but was also described as ‘abducted’. The enumerator put a line through ‘& Stinking Proud’ but accepted Richard’s description of his unnamed wife as feeble minded:

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A quick search of the 1891 and 1901 censuses revealed Mrs Woodward as Blanche and their daughter as Maud. Richard Woodward married Blanche Emily Creasy in the June quarter of 1890. Maud, their only child, was born a respectable 9-12 months after the marriage (June quarter 1891), so not in the same year, as it might appear from Richard’s 1911 census entry.

What was going on? Was Richard a deserted husband? Had his wife and daughter really been abducted? Was he feeling hard done by or simply completing the 1911 form with his tongue very firmly in his cheek? Richard was in his mid-30s when he married Blanche, who was 13/14 years his junior. Perhaps Blanche had found herself a toy boy?

Searching findmypast.co.uk for the ‘abducted’ wife and daughter revealed that they stayed with their Creasy relatives on 1911 census night at High St, Hadlow, Tonbridge:

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Ellen Creasy (nee Pine) was Arthur Creasy’s second wife. His first wife Susannah (mother of Harold) was alone in 1901 and died later that year. Husband Arthur was not positively identified in 1901.

I then noticed the faint pencilled note below the family listing on the Creasy 1911 census image. It appears to have been written by the enumerator and says ‘No. 3 Harold Creasy apart from wife’.

Harold’s wife, Mary Eldridge Creasy, (nee Simpson) and her son, nine month old Arthur Harold John, were staying at 29 Duckett Road, Hornsey, with Mary’s parents.

So, abducted Blanche and Maud were just visiting…weren’t they?

To celebrate yesterday’s release of Guy Ritchie’s ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows’, we’ve put on our deerstalker hat to uncover the mystery of Britain’s real Sherlock Holmes.

Our detective work has revealed that since the publication of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s first Holmes novel ‘A Study in Scarlet’ in 1887, nine people have been named Sherlock Holmes across England and Wales.

We also discovered that the Holmes brothers actually did exist. The 1911 census on findmypast.co.uk shows a Sherlock Holmes and his brother Mycroft Holmes - played by Stephen Fry in the film - living in Yorkshire aged 14 and 10 years old:

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The most popular name from the world’s most famous detective series, however, is not Sherlock or Mycroft, but Watson, the detective’s loveable partner played by Jude Law. Watson appears 14,405 times as a first name in the England and Wales 1837-2006 birth records on findmypast.co.uk. It even appears eight times as a first name and last name: Watson Watson. 319 people had Sherlock as a first name.

Have you found any Sherlocks, Mycrofts or Watsons in your family tree?

As findmypast.co.uk is the only place you can search the official, complete 1911 census, you’ll be thrilled to learn about the latest development which keeps us streets ahead of the competition.

It’s almost time to find out how your ancestors filled in the ‘infirmity‘ column in the 1911 census. On 4 January 2012, the Information Commissioner’s 100 year restriction on publishing this potentially sensitive information is lifted and you can search the 1911 census on findmypast.co.uk for fresh information to add to your family tree.

For the first time, the original census images will show you if your ancestors recorded the details of your family’s illnesses and conditions and the age at which these began. This can provide a revealing insight into the previously censored health of your family in 1911, as well as your ancestors’ views of their relations’ wellbeing.

On the census transcriptions, you’ll also be able to see any recorded details of children born to women in prison who were aged three or under at the time of the census.

4 January 2012 will be the first time that this information is published online and findmypast.co.uk is the only place to view it.

Search the 1911 census now

The Society of Genealogists has the largest family history research library in the UK and we’re pleased to be working in association with them to bring you millions of fantastic records to grow your family tree.

Here we focus on one set of records from the Society and the rich detail just waiting to be discovered.

Business Index 1892-1987

This is an index to British shopkeepers, businessmen and women and their companies. The source material is a series of books published in the 1890s, which contain information about local corporations and businesses to provide a history of the area, its attractions, major institutions and commercial life.

What makes these records so special is the amount of detail they can tell you about your ancestors. The businesses included in these records have a minimum of a paragraph about each shop or company, often showing a photograph of it or the proprietor. Family members working in the business are usually listed and, if a person is prominent in local society, the entry often mentions membership of the corporation and leisure activities, including involvement with clubs, charities and other institutions.

Such details really give you a rounded picture of what your ancestors were like as people and add colour and context to your family tree. It’s very difficult to find this kind of information elsewhere, so it’s definitely worth searching for your ancestors in these records to see what you can find out.

We’ve been searching the Business Index and have found JP Barrow, chairman of Cadbury Brothers Ltd and British Cocoa & Chocolate Company Ltd. The record tells us that Barrow’s was ‘one of the first great firms to adopt the ‘Welfare’ idea in the interests of its employees’ and goes to on credit him with creating an ‘atmosphere of contentment‘ in the workplace.

Alongside Barrow is Arthur Butterfield, director of Butterfields Ltd. The record details Butterfield’s employment history, as well as telling us that he enjoys motoring, tennis and dancing:

JP Barrow and Arthur Butterfield in the Business Index - click to enlarge

Search for your ancestors in the Business Index now

See a full list of the records you can search on findmypast.co.uk from the Society of Genealogists

Today marks the launch of the British Newspaper Archive, where you can search up to 4 million pages of historical newspapers online.

The British Library and brightsolid are working in partnership on this ground-breaking project, which will transform the way that historical newspapers are used to find out about our past. The website offers access to up to 4 million fully searchable pages, featuring more than 200 newspaper titles from every part of the UK and Ireland.

The newspapers - which mainly date from the 19th century, but which include runs dating back to the first half of the 18th century - cover every aspect of local, regional and national news. Thousands of new pages will be added to the collection every day, to reach up to 40 million pages over the next 10 years - this is an unmissable resource for your family history research.

Alongside first-hand accounts of historic events, such as the wedding of Victoria and Albert and the Charge of the Light Brigade, the newspapers also provide numerous rich details about how our ancestors lived. You can search a wealth of material to help your family history research, including family notices, announcements and obituaries. The ability to search by name, location, date and newspaper title means that you can search hundreds of thousands of pages at a time to track down those elusive ancestors.

Findmypast.co.uk’s marketing executive, Amy Sell, has made a fascinating discovery of her own in the archive. She found an article about her great-great-great-grandfather, Richard Howard, who was accused of stealing a pocket watch. We learn Richard’s fate at the end of the article: ‘Verdict: “Not guilty” - this caused much surprise in court.’

As well as adding new and colourful information to her family tree, the article also tells Amy the following about her great-great-great-grandfather:

• His age in 1867 (30)
• His occupation (chimney sweep)
• Where he was from (Hitchin, Hertfordshire)
• His father (Amy’s great-great-great-great-grandfather)’s name (James Howard) and the words he used to describe his son’s character
• Information about her ancestor’s whereabouts in the 1850s - his father said “he has been at Biggleswade for ten years, and works for all the gentry”.

Search the British Newspaper Archive now

One of our customers was inspired to write a book after researching his family tree on findmypast.co.uk

Kenny O’Connell took inspiration from his own ancestry to write The Hoodie & the High Rip Gang. Kenny told us, ‘I just started typing away using real life characters that I had researched when tracing my family history.’

The book shows how much tougher life was in census years gone by, and tells the story of the Hoodie, who journeys back to 1911 to meet his great-great-grandmother and her children.

Times are hard in 1911, but the Hoodie gets the love and affection from his great-great-grandmother that he doesn’t get in 2011. He fights to protect her against the gangs that terrorised England at that time and he now has to fight against himself in the form of the High Rip Gang. Members of this gang can be found on the census forms. The Hoodie learns a lot of hard lessons in 1911 and comes back a changed person.

Kenny told us, ‘Story writing and script writing has now taken over my life and this wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for my passion for family history and using findmypast.co.uk’

This is an entertaining and exciting read, and would make a great present for anyone who is interested in bringing their family tree to life in this unique way.

You can buy The Hoodie & the High Rip Gang from the following places – buy your copy soon to beat the Christmas rush!

Paperback book

Amazon Kindle Ebook

ibook - iTunes store

Lulu Ebook

If you’ve read ‘The Hoodie & the High Rip Gang’ please let us know what you thought by commenting on this blog post.

Today is Winnie the Pooh’s 85th birthday and to commemorate his author AA Milne, we’ve been investigating Milne’s family history.

Educational ancestors

We discovered that Milne came from a family of school teachers. Our first stop was the census records on findmypast.co.uk where we found Milne in the 1891 census. He is recorded at Henley House School, Mortimer Road, Hampstead, aged nine. He is listed as a scholar with his father, John Milne, the schoolmaster. John was born in Jamaica and was married to Sarah Heginbotham. See the record here:

Click to enlarge

Ten years later, the 1901 census tells us that Milne’s father had moved on from Henley House School and was the schoolmaster at Streete Court School, Westgate-on-Sea, Kent. Milne was living with his aunt and uncle as a Cambridge undergraduate at this time.

Milne’s uncle, Alexander Milne, was the principal of the Boys’ Private School, University School, Holmesdale Gardens, Hastings. Alexander is listed in the Teachers’ Registration Council Registers 1914-1948 on findmypast.co.uk. He registered on 1 July 1919 and his career in education spanned 1871 to 1932. View Alexander’s record here:

Click to enlarge

Our research revealed further evidence of teaching in Milne’s family. Milne’s mother and maternal grandmother, both named Sarah Heginbotham, were school mistresses at Brooklyn House, Wellington, Shropshire at the time of the 1871 census.

Milne’s paternal grandfather, William Milne, was recorded as being an inspector of schools in the 1861 census, which made us wonder whether he was the catalyst for the family’s teaching tradition.

At the time of the 1911 census, Milne was living at Broadgates, Steeple Bumpstead in Essex with his parents. Milne was recorded as being a journalist, working on his ‘own account and Punch‘. By this time, his father was a retired schoolmaster.

Milne on the move

We were intrigued to find Milne 20 years later in the passenger lists on findmypast.co.uk travelling as a first class passenger to the USA with his wife, Dorothy.

The couple were aboard the Aquitania, which departed Southampton for New York on 21 October 1931. In the detailed log, Milne is described as an author and his address is recorded as being 13 Mallord Street SW3. View the record here:

Click to enlarge

As Milne’s ancestry demonstrates, you can glean huge amounts of detail when you find your ancestors in the Teachers’ Registration Council Registers 1914-1948 on findmypast.co.uk. We are working in partnership with the Society of Genealogists to bring you these rich records.

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:

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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

You’re very likely to find ancestors in our new Merchant Navy Seamen records because Britain had one of the largest merchant fleets in the world. The workforce on these vessels was a casual, ‘jobbing workforce’ so in any one year as many as 1.5 million people could be employed in the Merchant Navy.

We’ve spotted a number of celebrities and their ancestors in the records – take a look at who we’ve found!

Have you found any of your own ancestors?

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen's grandfather, a 3rd Officer - please click to enlarge

You might remember that Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen discovered that his maternal grandfather Ronald Ernest Wilks was a merchant seaman in his Who Do You Think You Are? episode. Well here he is! Ronald was born on 13th August 1898 in Newport and was employed as a 3rd Officer on three vessels between 1920 and 1921. His record includes a photograph showing that flamboyant hairstyles seemed to run in the family!



Norman Wisdom

Norman Wisdom, a cabin boy - please click to enlarge

Did you know that Norman Wisdom was once a merchant seaman? Here we see that Norman Joseph Wisdom, born on 4th February 1915 in London, once worked as a cabin boy on SS Mandy Count. Norman was recorded as having hazel eyes, brown hair and a pale complexion. You’ll also see an early autograph at the bottom!



Jimmy Savile

Jimmy Savile's brother, an ordinary seaman - please click to enlarge

Jimmy Savile’s brother John Henry Savile was also a merchant seaman and can be seen here telling a porkie pie about his age. John is recorded as having been born on 24th May 1918 in Leeds, though our birth records reveal that he was actually born a year later in 1919! John worked as an ordinary seaman on SS Firby and has signed his name at the bottom of the record. He was recorded as being 5’5’’ tall with brown eyes, fair hair, a fair complexion and a scar on the crown of his head.