Lest We Forget
Over the last decade there has been an increase in awareness of the importance of war memorials and honour rolls, both for their commemorative function and as a source of information for local historians and genealogists. These rolls may record only those who died or all enlistments from an area. They can be located in town halls, parks, churches, schools or clubs. Some recent additions to our collection, both in the Overseas and the Australasian Collection, may be of use in your research.

The Family Roots FHS (Eastbourne and District) in Sussex has transcribed the names from, and in many cases photographed, war memorials and honour boards in many Sussex villages and some border villages in Kent and Surrey. These have been published as a series of pamphlets and contain records from the following towns and villages:

• Alciston, Alfriston, Arlington, Ashburnham, Beddingham, Berwick, Bodle Street Green, Brightling, Chalvington, Chiddingly, Dallington, East Dean, East Hoathly, Firle, Folkington, Friston, Glynde, Hailsham, Heathfield, Hellingly, Herstmonceux, Horam, Jevington, Laughton, Litlington, Ninfield, Pevensey, Polegate, Ringmer, Ripe, Selmeston, Stone Cross, Upper Dicker, Waldron, Warbleton, Wartling, Westham, Willingdon, Wilmington. SAG reference N7.38/11/Pam.14
• Alciston cum Selmeston, Ansty, Balcombe, Battle, Camber, Crawley Down, Cuckfield, East Grinstead, Groombridge, Haywards Heath, High Hurstwood, Mark Cross, Newenden, (Kent), Plumpton, Rye Harbour, Rye St Anthony, Sandhurst (Kent), Scaynes Hill, Twineham, West Hoathly, Westmeston cum Streat, Worth. SAG reference N7.38/11/Pam.16
• Ashdown Forest, Bexhill, Brightling, Chalvington, Coleman's Hatch, Cross-in-Hand, Crowhurst, Jarvis Brook, St Leonards-on-Sea, Hollington, Sidley, Southease, Telscombe, Withyham. SAG reference N7.38/11/Pam.15
• Albourne, Ardingly, Ashurst (Kent), Bolney, Broadwater Down (Kent), Copthorne, Cowden (Kent), Edburton, Falmer & Stanmer, Felbridge (Surrey), Hammerwood, Highbrook, Holtye, Langton Green (Kent), Newtimber, Patcham, Poyning, Rusthall (Kent), Sayers Common, Slaugham, Staplefield, Turners Hill. SAG reference N7.38/11/Pam.17
• Brighton, Burgess Hill, Burstow (Surrey), Copthorne Common, Crawley, Crowborough, Groombridge, Hailsham, Hangleton, Ifield, Kingston Buci, Lewes, Old Shoreham, Ore, Portslade Village, Ringmer, St Leonards, Shoreham by Sea, Southwick & Fishergate; West Blatchington, Woodmancote. SAG reference N7.38/11/Pam.18
• Ashurstwood, Blackham, Burwash, Crowborough, Danehill, Eridge, Fairwap, Five Ashes, Forest Row, Frant, Hartfield, Horsted Keynes, Lindfield, Mayfield, Newhaven, Nutley, Rotherfield, Tidebrook. SAG reference N7.38/11/Pam.19
• Eastbourne. SAG reference N7.38/11/Pam.20
• Battle, Beckley, Bodiam, Brede, East Guldeford, Etchingham, Ewhurst, Fairlight, Flimwell, Guestling, Hurst Green, Icklesham, Iden, Lamberhurst, Little Common, Mountfield, Netherfield, Northiam, Peasmarsh, Pett, Playden, Robertsbridge, Rye, Rye Harbour, Salehurst, Sedlescombe, Staplecross, Stonegate, Ticehurst, Udimore, Wadhurst, Westfield, Whatlington, Winchelsea. SAG reference N7.38/11/Pam.21
• Barcombe, Bishopstone, Buxted, Catsfield, Chailey, Clayton, Denton, Ditchling, East Chiltington, Fletching, Framfield, Hadlow Down, Hooe, Horsted Parva (Little), Hurst, Iford, Isfield, Keymer, Kingstone, Maresfield, Newick, Offham and Hamsey, Ovingdean, Piddinghoe, Plumpton Green, Pyecombe, Rodmell, Rottingdean, Seaford, Tarring Neville, Uckfield, West Dean, Westmeston and Streat, Wivelsfield. SAG reference N7.38/11/Pam.22
• Lewes, Peacehaven, Piddinghoe. SAG reference N7.38/11/Pam.23
• Hastings. SAG reference N7.38/11/Pam.24
• Lewes. SAG reference N7.38/11/Pam.25

Most of these volumes have a surname and given name index so it is quick to look at them and scan them for either an individual name or family name. Typically they cover WWI and WWII but they may also cover earlier conflicts such as the Boer War. They are all located in the Overseas Collection at Rumsey Hall, 24 Kent Street.

Closer to home, the Marrickville Heritage Society has produced a volume detailing the war memorials and honour boards of the St Peters Municipality (Sydney), covering the suburbs of St Peters, Sydenham and Tempe. This consists of transcriptions of all rolls that could be located and of two card indexes, one for World War I and one for World War II, detailing enlistments from the area for inclusion on the boards.

This is a valuable resource because it acts as a quasi-census of families who lived in the area. This volume, too, is easy to use because it has an extensive name index. It is located in the Australasian Collection at Richmond Villa, 120 Kent Street, SAG reference B7/11/389.

Primary Records collection
SAG's Primary Records collection is a tremendous resource - the accumulation of decades of research by thousands of members, and often an excellent means of avoiding "reinventing the wheel". We don't guarantee that everything in the collection is absolutely correct - it's just a collection of members' research and therefore needs to be regarded as often no more than "work in progress". Nonetheless, many researchers get great value from it.

Not all of the collection is yet electronically indexed, so the card index must also be consulted. However, the number of references included in the on-line index has recently been updated to over 375,000, spread over more than 16,000 files - check for your ancestors on our web site regularly, because we're now adding about 5000 new references per month.

Our activity programme for the first half of 2003 is now on-line here. Here are some items coming up in the next few weeks.

You've Got Mail! - Saturday 8 February, 10:00am-12:30pm
Hear about the fascinating national post office records held by the National Archives, the Philatelic Association and our own recent donation of post office histories. $20 ($15 for SAG members).

Summer Searching! GENUKI - Tuesday 11 February, 6:00pm-8:00pm
You can't conduct your UK and Irish research on the Internet without it. Let us show you how to use it successfully!
$20 ($15 for SAG members).

Heritage Scrapbooking - Back by popular demand! - Tuesday 11 March, 6:00pm-8:30pm
Expert, Louise Riddell leads us through scrapbooking those historic photos. Bring copies of your photos to work on!
$20 ($15 for SAG members).

Which Army? What Rank? - Saturday 15 March, 10:00am-12:30pm
Ancestor in the army in India in the 18th or 19th centuries? Sylvia Murphy explains how to identify whether he served with HM Army, one of the Indian armies or even an Irregular regiment, and where to find records of service.
$20 ($15 for SAG members).

Other courses
Over the next few weeks we've also got beginners' or introductory courses on English, German and Dutch research! Check out the details on our web site, where you'll find a detailed program for each.
Good discounts for SAG members!

Bookings are ESSENTIAL for all these activities! Click here to book and pay! Or telephone us at (02) 9247 3953. Or visit our website for details of all our courses and other activities.

Check out these spots on the web!

Manorial Documents Register
The Manorial Documents Register (MDR), is maintained by the Historical Manuscripts Commission (HMC) on behalf of the Master of the Rolls. It records information on the whereabouts of manorial records excluding title deeds. Manorial records survive today in many national and local record offices and in some cases in private hands. The HMC itself holds no manorial records.

Manorial records may be of use once a family has been traced back to the early eighteenth century or earlier, particularly when few parish records have survived for an area. The MDR can then help to establish the whereabouts of records for specific manors or manors within a parish.

Although the majority of the MDR is not computerised, the register for Wales, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Norfolk and the three Ridings of Yorkshire have been and a project to computerise the Surrey and Middlesex sections is currently under way. the majority of the counties have not yet been computerised and information is still only available by visiting the MDR searchroom or writing in with an enquiry.

The MDR can be searched at www.mdr.nationalarchives.gov.uk/mdr/.

1901 Census Leftovers
Lots of subscribers to the (England and Wales) 1901 census mailing list post on that list transcriptions of the images that they have purchased. Transcriptions are also popping up on other mailing lists. Now Trudy Weaver has taken the bit between her teeth and brought them together on one site, rather than dotted through the archives of the various lists. So far she's gathered almost 10,000 transcriptions, which can be viewed at www.4trudy.co.uk/census/.

If you'd like to contribute details from your own purchases, please note that Trudy accepts only complete page transcriptions - i.e. not just the people on a page that interest you! She accepts them in Excel or Works spreadsheet, Access or Works database, or as a Word document, and there are detailed instructions on her web site.

We suspect that Trudy has taken on a very big task here, but it's one that deserves to succeed.

Abney Park Cemetery
Abney Park is a large London cemetery, originally laid out in 1840 as one of a group of new burial grounds designed to relieve pressure on over-crowded churchyards. The catchment area for this cemetery includes places such as Hackney, Stoke Newington and Dalston.

The cemetery was abandoned by the cemetery company in 1978, and now has the nature of an urban forest. But in the period from 1840 to 1978, 194,815 burials took place there, with a small number of burials since that time in family sites.

In recent years the cemetery has been managed as a nature reserve as well as a local leisure resource and an active, working cemetery. Since 1992, a Trust has worked to protect it from further neglect and to promote educational and training projects for residents of north London.

The cemetery also has an active indexing group, drawn from around the world. The indexing project aims to provide an on-line index to all the burials 1840-1978. So far about 95% of the details of burials to 1919 have been transcribed and are available on-line. Burials from 1920 are 95% indexed by surname, but the full transcriptions are only about 40% complete to 1936, and only about 10% for the balance.

Where transcription from the burial registers has been completed, the site provides surname, forenames, date of burial, cemetery section and the source reference. Where transcription is not yet complete, your search will find surnames and initials only, while the "burial date" will merely be that of the first burial in the relevant register.

Further detail is available by email. For a fee of £8 you can obtain details of all the individuals interred in a grave, not just the individual requested, and including the names of any recorded purchaser and the address of "last abode" for each of the occupants. Also provided is an overall plan of the cemetery showing the location of each of the sections, plus a detailed plan of the grave location within its section. This looks to be a very worthwhile service and we wish the project well.

Don't forget our shop!
We have a great collection of family history book titles available on-line, as well as local histories, CD-ROMs, charts and genealogical software - all at competitive prices! You may have missed these:

The Joys of Family History by Simon Fowler - just $24.95 plus p&p. This lavishly produced book put out by the Public Record Office of the UK tells you "all you need to start your family search". Full of ideas, examples and colour photos, it is a great book to give as a gift to someone toying with beginning their family history. 80 pages, softback. [more detail]

Irish Women in Colonial Australia by Trevor McClaughlin (ed) - just $29.95 plus p&p. This isn't a new book, but is certainly one worth reading if you are descended from Irish stock. Contains nine lively essays which study the experiences of Irish colonial women including the assisted, free, convict, murderers, orphans, new rich, country maids, slum dwellers and workers. 229 pages, softback.[more detail]

Ancestors in Archives - State Records of South Australia - just $21.95 plus p&p. This guide for family historians produced by South Australia's government archives provides a good introduction to topics such as shipping arrivals, land, Aborigines,social welfare, bankruptcy, hospital records and births, deaths and marriages, just to name a few! An excellent reference work if you are undertaking research in that state. Softback, 226 pages. [more detail]

PRO vouchers for 1901 Census payment. $16.50 for £5 vouchers; $33.00 for £10 vouchers - plus p&p. Advantages over credit card when paying to view images or transcriptions of pages from the 1901 census of England and Wales. No minimum charge per viewing "session", and sessions can last up to six months! [Order £5 vouchers or £10 vouchers]

All the above items available on-line, or by mailing, calling or faxing us with your name and credit card details - contact details at top.

Or visit us at Rumsey Hall and see our whole range.

Charges for postage and packing vary with destination and weight - minimum $5.50. For detail, see here.