AUDLEY & DISTRICT FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

AUG 2004

 

 

 

 

REVIEW OF ‘ADVENTURES IN TRACING THE MORGAN FAMILY TREE’

 

On Friday 2nd 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

 

 

NEW RECORDS AND TRANSCRIPTS

 

We have now transcribed details of the Burials at St James the Great, Audley from 1914 to 1953

 

 

 

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 25th 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?

 

 

·         A MYSTERY.

We have been contacted by Peter Herrington; the historian of the LEAGAS family.  He saw that we have a Thomas Albert Leagas on the war memorial.  The only Thomas Leagas killed in WW2 that he knows of was born and lived only in London or thereabouts.  We have no other knowledge of this person.  Does anyone know why Thomas Leagas is on Audley War Memorial?

 

Software Review

National Burial Index 2nd Edition. Published by the Federation of Family History Societies

(e mail nbi@ffhs.co.uk) and available from 16th August.  See below for pricing.

 

The number of burials listed in the National Burial Index has increased vastly. Whereas the first edition, published back in 2001 contained some 5.4 million entries, the second edition has over 13 million entries.

 

Family Historians will be aware that the IGI contains baptisms and marriages leaving a huge gap in relation to burials. The National Burial Index is intended to plug that gap and for that is the reason why the new CD will be an essential purchase.

The price is £45. Upgrades from the first Edition are £25.

 

 

Robert Mayer

 

 

Book Review

 

 

Readers with an engineering bias, interest in model making and early steam engines should be made aware of a new boy on the block; David K. Hulse of Stone, Staffordshire. He’s a retired Chief Engineer from Doulton`s and a renown model maker who has now started giving illustrated talks on 18th century steam engines. I was in the first party to visit his house, and was amazed at his presentation. An extract from the preface of David`s first book, The Development of Rotary Motion by Steam Power, by the Editor is as follows: - The amount of research and study by David is staggering, but his miniature engines, which are not so miniature as you might think, with some of the clear Perspex cases protecting the models being two meters high by one meter square, are breathtaking. His dedication to detail and his patience is very evident, with each component re-created exactly as on the prototype engines, right down to every nut and bolt, square one's of course! The timberwork of the engines and their houses is also portrayed in minute detail, with the scrapes and gouges made on the timbers by the artisans of the eighteenth century being reproduced faithfully by the author. The Bricklaying of the engine houses took months of patience, carefully placing each brick in position with 'mortar' made from wall tile adhesive. Of course, as David mentions in this book, the development of the machine to produce the bricks and tiles was quite a task also! There is no doubt in anyone's mind that the models are well deserving of their first prizes in the competition classes of the Midlands Model Engineering Exhibition.

 

Edgar Farrington