Phil Lamb

HAPPY NEW YEAR
Well I hope it will be a Happy New Year as personally 2021 was a disaster and Christmas was even more disastrous. I won’t bore you with the details, suffice to say in the words of the song “Things can only get better”.
This will only be a short newsletter as I just wanted to tell you about decisions that have had to made about meeting up in January.
Firstly, the Family History Centre will not now open until Monday 10 Jan. This is due to the rising infection rates and the omicron variant and to keep our volunteer librarians safe when they travel backwards and forward into Birmingham city centre.
The reopening decision will be dependent on any government restrictions or guidance that may be in place at that time, so please check before you travel.
If you wish to visit the Family History Centre after that date, please remember that you need to use the online booking in system. To register, email fhc.bookings@gmx.com

MEETING CANCELLATIONS
We also have two meeting cancellations for January. Paul Handford’s talk on The Friends Ambulance Unit scheduled for Saturday 15 January at the BMI in Birmingham will not now take place. This is due to the uncertainty of what the Government intends doing in the New Year about placing further restrictions on us.
Also cancelled is the visit to the Foundling Museum on 8 January organised by our London Group and again is due to the large numbers of covid cases in London. The London Group’s next meeting will be on 2 April at their new home, Wesley’s Chapel and Leysian Mission in City Road, London. (See programme booklet or website for details).

OTHER MEETINGS
On the plus side, most of our other Groups will be holding their meetings later in January or on Zoom, full details are either in the programme booklet or on the website.
Kenilworth Group are holding their monthly meetings on Zoom up until April, mainly due to the dark nights. Full details are in the programme booklet.
On Wed 26th January Myko Clelland from FMP will be telling us how to get the best out of the 1921 census. Time 2pm – 4pm. Booking arrangements are now open on this website under events or follow this link – 1921 Census
As you know this will be the last census for a while. The 1931 census was destroyed during WW2 and there wasn’t a 1941 census, so the next one will be the 1951. I don’t think I will be around to see that released!

THANK YOU
Thank you to those members who came up with suggestions for my elusive Millward family. They must have come from somewhere, but where I have no idea! Apart from Worcestershire, there are a great many in South Wales, Derbyshire and Warwickshire. So it is a bit like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
My daughter has pointed out that there are some trees on Ancestry that go back further than I have done, but as I pointed out to her: A. you don’t know if the information is true and B. whether it has been proved. I’m afraid that I don’t believe anything I cannot prove myself.
One thing I meant to mention during my talk was that one of my ‘remote’ ancestors was tried at the Old Bailey for murdering his wife. He was a boatman travelling back from London and apparently when two barges using horses pass each other there is a well-known system to do so, but that didn’t happen in this case and his wife was knocked into the canal and was drowned. He was accused of her murder but was acquitted on the evidence of the other boatman. I must admit that I didn’t find this by chance, this was another ‘tale’ told to me by my aunt which, of course, I had to investigate. Old Bailey records are available on line: Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913 online. https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/ Something else that you may not be aware of, is that individuals who intended to serve food and alcoholic beverages in a public house had to apply for an annual licence. From 1522, a person wanting to sell alcoholic drinks had to apply for a licence from the Quarter or Petty Sessions and it is from these courts records that most publican records originate. Most records and documents are held at County Record Offices and are arranged by the name of the pub and not the name of the publican. Trade and street directories as well as electoral registers can help track down the name of the pub and location. Simon Fowler, who is a long-established author and editor in the world of family history publications has written a very comprehensive book called Researching Brewery and Publican Ancestors. It costs £5.95 and is available through our online bookshop.

REMINDER
Can I remind you that your subscription is due on 1 January. The cost is still £14.50 and there is a renewal form in the December journal, or you can renew via the online shop or better still set up a regular payment via your bank. If you bank on line this is quite easy to do.
That all folks, Happy New Year to you all. Hopefully 2022 will be better than 2021.
Jackie

Christmas is just around the corner, and I don’t know about you, but this year seems even longer than last year but then all of a sudden, we are at the end of the year. Just when we felt we were getting back to normal, it is still in the lap of the Gods when that will be.

RECENT TALK
Did you manage to listen to John Hanson on ‘Why Pay for Information from the Internet?’ Amongst many of the interesting facts that he mentioned was that on the Ancestry and Findmypast only carry BMD indexes up to 1983 although births are up to 2007.
When the BMD books were first digitalised, and the Family Records Centre in London closed, there was a hue and cry from people saying that they could not access the up-to-date indexes, so provision was made for various centres around the country to hold up to date indexes (within six months of the present date). These were: • the Library of Birmingham • Bridgend Local and Family History Centre • the City of Westminster Archives Centre • Manchester Central Library • Newcastle City Library • Plymouth Central Library • The British Library (you’ll need to register first)
They were on micro-fiche the last time I looked in Birmingham (that may have changed).
‘Normal’ BMDs are not the only indexes available, there are many non-standard indexes available for the Army, Navy, Overseas, etc. Findmypast hold many of these additional indexes. These are also available to view at National Archives.

FORTHCOMING TALKS
2nd December, 5pm to 6pm
This is not one of ours, but I feel many of you would be interested in joining in and this has come to me from Lesley Plant of Kenilworth who tells me that Rebecca Probert is releasing a new book and will be giving a talk via Zoom on it on Thursday 2nd December and it’s free. (Apparently the first trench of tickets went very quickly, but capacity has been increased, so you may be lucky to get one).
To register go to: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rebecca-probert-getting-married-the-legacy-of-legal-history-tickets-199688492657?utm_sour .

6 December 7.30pm – North Staffs Group
Back at their normal venue, St. John’s Centre, Newcastle Road, ST4 6QD. A talk on ‘Clarice Cliff ceramic artist and the young girls she trained’. I bet that will be very interesting.
8 December, 2pm – KINGSLEY NORRIS MEMORIAL LECTURE – GENEALOGY – THE MILLWARD FAMILY – VIA ZOOM
Kingsley Norris was a pioneering founding member of the Society and after his death, these talks, always given by a member of the Society, was inaugurated in his memory.
I could not escape Peter’s gaze, so this year it is my turn. I shall be giving a talk on my MILLWARD family. This is my paternal line and something I started 50 years ago. Not so much from a family history point of view, because as you will see from my talks that was not much in evidence at the time, but it was more to do with the many tales and stories that we had been told and I really wanted to know what was true and what was a lie.
Door Prize Kindly donated by Steph Russell, today we have a “Door Prize” which is a copy of Family Tree Maker software to assist with recording your family history research. To be eligible all you must do is be in attendance on the day. A name will be selected at random from the Register of Participants at the end of the meeting and the result announced immediately. Family Tree Maker for pc or Mac, download normally priced at £79.95 – thank you Steph.
We had hoped to run both Zoom and, at the BMI, but unfortunately that is not to be, and it will be on Zoom only. Registration is now open. Go to: https://midland-ancestors.uk/event/birmingham-my-millward-family-kingsley-norris-memorial-lecture/

1921 CENSUS
You will all know by now that the 1921 census is due to be released in January through Findmypast. Unfortunately, there is a cost involved – £2.50 for every record transcript and £3.50 for every original record image. For all 12-month Pro subscribers, there will be a 10% discount on any 1921 Census purchases.
26th January 2022: 2pm – 4pm – Myko Clelland – The 1921 Census – On ZOOM
This is a must! Midland Ancestors has been able to get Myko Clelland, Regional Licensing & Outreach Manager at FindMyPast will tell us all about the 1921 census and how we can use it to enhance the knowledge of our ancestors.
Myko (aka The Dapper Historian) has family roots in our area so is ideally placed to be giving us this presentation.
To register, follow this link  1921 Census

This is a little tip, if you are not in a hurry to view the 1921 census, you can view the census for free down at National Archives, Kew. When the 1911 census was released, I made a note of all the references for people I wanted to view, and then ‘blitzed’ the census down at Kew, where it was free to view. The same will apply to this one. One word of warning, according to TNA website, you will not be able to print off copies, you will have to save to a memory stick or email them to yourself.

Hopefully, TNA will allow coach trips again the in New Year. The Family History Federation have a new series of family history podcasts, covering a range of topics and expert guests. Introduced by Joe Saunders. You can find details on https://www.familyhistoryfederation.com/podcast It also lists talks given by other Family History Societies. Talking to Jacqui Fielding of the Friends of Key Hill Cemetery and Warstone Lane cemetery this morning, she was saying how busy they are with lookups at the cemeteries. Although their tours have finished for this year, they restart on January 9 with tours round Key Hill cemetery and Warstone Lane cemetery. Well worth it. Look on Eventbrite for details. She also mentioned that you can view forthcoming events on the Eventbrite website, some are free some you must pay for, but there are some really interesting events coming along. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom–birmingham/all-events/

Somebody mentioned on our Facebook page a few weeks ago looking for sailors and ships, so this may be of some help. The Lloyds Register of ships is online and dates back to 1764. Full details on what is available is on https://hec.lrfoundation.org.uk/archive-library/lloyds-register-of-ships-online
If you have ancestors in Northern Ireland check out the North of Ireland Family History Society, they are also holding some really interesting talks in the New Year. https://www.nifhs.org/events/
A 2022 programme booklet will be with your December journal for next year, some of the meetings in person and some via Zoom, but please do check before you journey to any of the meetings just in case things change.

Phil had hoped to be able to offer hybrid meetings both on zoom and in person, but it is proving a little more difficult than we thought. It is more than a ‘one man’ job, so if you have any experience in this regard, he would be pleased to hear from you.
I have been asked by a member if anybody can help him decipher a 16th century Will. He tells me it is only one page long, so if you can help, please let me know.
You may have read that we suffered a bereavement recently, my eldest brother died (not unexpectedly). I have been helping his daughter to sort out their house that he and my sister in law (who died last Christmas) had lived in for 60 years. Apart from my sister in law keeping every scrap of paperwork since they married, there were lots of photographs which my niece has given me to see if I recognise the people in them.

So I know I have said this before, but if you have some photographs that you know who the people are, but nobody else does, write on the back who they are, where the photo was taken and the approximate date, so your descendants don’t have the same problem.
The other thing we came across, were lots of Super 8 cine films from the 1960s. Julie had them put on DVD and memory sticks and distributed them round the family. It is wonderful to see people who have long since left us, but I don’t remember ever being that young and SLIM! So if you have the same, get them converted. I am going to do the same to my daughter’s dancing videos and I know how much she will love that!
Not sure if I will send out a newsletter at the end of December, depends how busy I am over Christmas, but I might send one out early in the New Year.
Best wishes to you all.
Jackie