AUDLEY & DISTRICT FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

AUG 2004

REVIEW OF ‘ADVENTURES IN TRACING THE MORGAN FAMILY TREE’

On Friday 2^nd July, Professor David Morgan gave an unusual talk in that unlike most talks that we have in our programme, which are based on Local History, the basis of Professor Morgan’s talk was Family History.

Professor Morgan’s family is really dispersed and he has found himself researching in Worcester, Wales and as far away as Newfoundland. Anyone who has attempted to trace dispersed relatives will appreciate the implications of the name ‘Newfoundland’.

Professor Morgan’s roots are, however, in Wales. His great grandfather spoke Welsh and entertained Welsh cattle drovers in Powys.

Using his family tree Professor Morgan entertained us with interesting anecdotal tales. He discovered that Charles Darwin’s signature is in the marriage register of the Parish of Maer, Staffordshire. He was able to say, therefore, that his daughter had signed the same book as Charles Darwin.

Altogether a really fascinating and entertaining address, which was enjoyed by nearly 50 members and guests

SNIPPETS

• WW1 Campaign Medals: The National Archives' project to digitise the index cards to the WW1 Campaign Medals for the British Army and Royal Flying Corps is underway. Cards for surnames "A" to "N" are now available (as at 25^th August). DocumentsOnline (www.documentsonline.nationalarchives.gov.uk ) allows you online access to The National Archives' collection of digitised public records, including both academic and family history sources. Searching the index is free, and it costs £3.50 to download a digital image of a document. Campaign medals are those medals awarded to individuals who served in the First World War and who met the qualifications laid down for each campaign medal. In general, all those who saw service overseas were awarded a campaign medal. The qualifications for campaign medal were laid down in Army Orders. The cards were originally filmed in groups of six, and have been scanned the same way so the card you order will usually come with five other images of WO 372  (PRO Reference) medal cards. If you are ordering more than one medal card for individuals with similar names, you should check that their cards are not contained on the same image and you can do this by looking at the reference number.

·         Edgar Farrington asks if any members have walked around Barthomley Church and noticed a strange device chiseled into the South wall adjacent to the first buttress. It comprises a circle approx 40cm in diameter divided into 24 equal segments its center being a stone partially buried in the masonry. It pre dates the buttress as part of it was hidden when the buttress was built. Often considered as some form of medieval graffiti, on two occasions he has come across students examining it when he has been asked if he know what it means. The students are of the opinion that it must be some device to indicate times of events, perhaps a curfew, fasting, or even times of burials. They have a point, as one would expect a simple division of the circle to be 4, 8, 16, or 32 segments. Dividing it into 24 seems to give it a purpose. Is it graffiti? or has anyone any better ideas?