Colin Waters recalls a Scottish industry that once employed thousands of workers. Few people in Britain are aware of Scotland’s once massive oil shale Industry. For over a century, it was a major producer of oil and derivatives employing hundreds of Scottish and ‘incomer’ workers. At its peak in 1913, the industry employed an estimated … Read more
The first two Statistical Accounts of Scotland can help to bring your family history to life. Chris Paton explores how. If you have Scottish ancestry, the Statistical Accounts of Scotland are undoubtedly some of the most useful and interesting documents available for your research. Published in the late 18th and mid 19th centuries, they can … Read more
There’s a wealth of material to help you to discover how your ancestors lived, worked and worshipped in England’s second city, as Doreen Hopwood explains. Today, Birmingham is home to over a million people and is renowned for its multicultural diversity. It’s come a long way since 1086, when the Domesday Book described it as … Read more
Dee Dent’s research into her family’s history has thrown light on how the arrival of modern industrial manufacturing transformed life in Victorian Suffolk. A pony and trap hired from the local pub, a picnic basket, and her much-loved grandfather at the reins. My mother had a perfect summer holiday when she and her younger brother went … Read more
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Being UK City of Culture in 2017 put Hull firmly back on the map – and drew new attention to its history of seafaring and trading. By Nell Darby. Located in the East Riding of Yorkshire, the city of Kingston-upon-Hull, to give it its proper name, lies on the River Hull – hence the name. … Read more
Edwin Ansell received several mentions in the local press, but not for anything of renown, as Jackie Hendry discovered. Finding a criminal in the family was not really what I had in mind. I had toyed with discovering a tenuous link to a title; perhaps a loose association with Ansell’s Brewery; or, who knows, even … Read more
By Nell Darby. The Riot Act came into effect in England on 1 August 1715, a response to a series of civil disturbances that had taken place across England over the previous five years, it was intended to introduce a quicker way of punishing rioters and “riotous assemblies”. The act made it illegal for 12 … Read more
By Nell Darby. It was on 15 September 1830 that the first locomotive-hauled railway to connect two cities opened. The Prime Minister, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, rode on the first of eight inaugural trains from Liverpool, travelling 35 miles to Manchester. The Duke’s train ran on one track, while the seven others made the … Read more
By Nell Darby. The construction of Bethnal Green tube station, as part of the Central Line extension, was still incomplete in March 1943, although the tunnels had been largely finished. Since 1940, the station had been used as an air raid shelter, after being requisitioned by the government. Particularly during the first Blitz in 1940, … Read more