The Family History Event – Sunday 3rd May 2009, London

This coming Sunday, the 3rd May 2009, sees The Family History Event at the Barbican in London. I believe this is the first time this event has been held, and it certainly looks to be an interesting event.

The website looks rather unpolished compared to the big budget Who Do You Think You Are Live (WDYTYAL) earlier this year, but hopefully this will not be reflected in the event itself. There is an impressive line up of exhibitors, including a lot more genealogy societies (the website says over 80) than were at WDYTYAL (I am really looking forward to checking out some of these stands).

The family history societies seem to outnumber the commercial exhibitors, and hopefully this will give the family history societies chance to show just what they have to offer the genealogist, namely a much deeper understanding of the area covered and the needs of genealogists.

There is a series of lectures, in fact there are three separate strands catering for beginners, intermediate and advanced researchers. Also there is the opportunity to take a guided tour of the Society of Genealogists library, just around the corner from the Barbican. This is a great opportunity to get acquainted with the contents of their library, and one which I certainly hope to take up.

The Family History Event is organised by Fair Promotions Ltd and is sponsored by findmypast.com. The event is described as “a non profit making event organised by Family Historians for Family History Society members & anyone interested in their past”.

To find out more check the website, tickets are available on the door for just £10 and doors are open between 10am and 5pm. I will be spending several hours there, overdosing on family history and will let you know my impressions.

The problem with Thomas KINGHORN

Despite discovering more about Thomas KINGHORNs occupation as mail guard, I still have very little hard information about the man himself.

Thomas KINGHORN married Margaret SEWELL on the 5th May 1803 in St Cuthbert’s Church, Carlisle, Cumberland. They had six children, all baptised in St Cuthbert’s:

1. John KINGHORN	(baptised 30 Oct 1803)
2. Mary KINGHORN	(baptised 03 Aug 1806)
3. Thomas KINGHORN	(baptised 13 Mar 1808)
4. Abraham KINGHORN	(baptised 10 Jun 1810)
5. Elizabeth KINGHORN	(baptised 19 Mar 1815)
6. George KINGHORN	(baptised 11 May 1817)

In all the entries Thomas is shown as a mail guard. The entries for John, Mary and Thomas don’t show a residence, but the entries for Abraham, Elizabeth and George have the residence as Moffat (of North Britain) and Abraham’s entry states the parents are late of Carlisle.

On the 25th October 1808, Thomas was involved in a mail coach accident in which he was injured, “severely cut about the head”.

Thomas had died by the time his son Thomas was married (for the second time) in London in June 1850, as he is shown as deceased on the certificate. I have been unable to find him in the 1841 census and there doesn’t appear to be a death entry for him in the civil registration indexes, so he probably died before July 1837.

So not really a lot to go on, he was alive definitely alive between 1803 and 1817, he worked as a guard on the mail coach and had six children with his wife Margaret.

The key fact I would like to establish is where and when he died. This will hopefully give me a clue to his age and year of birth. Given his occupation, his death could have occurred almost anywhere in the country, and his place of birth may not have even been in the north but he may just have been working there and meet a local girl.

To try and find the man himself, I am going to have to make my next step to try and establish what happened to the rest of the family, I think I have found his wife in the 1841 census (back in Carlisle), which is a good start as I should be able to find her death certificate which may provide some clues, such as where to look for a burial record for both of them.

Why I am proud to say that Thomas KINGHORN was a mail guard

I appear to have been neglecting my Thomas KINGHORN research recently, I think the problem is that I have very little information to go on, there is very little I can do online and it is almost completely new territory to me.

I have however not been completely idle, I am in the middle of reading The Mail-Coach Men of the late Eighteenth Century¹ which I have borrowed from my local library, although I think I am going to have to buy a copy for my own bookshelf.

There is some wonderful detail on the origins of the mail coach service, and the people involved in setting it up and running it. There is also some great general information on mail guards such as:

… the key-men were the mail-guards. Everything depended on their integrity, their loyalty, their tireless zeal in the discharge of their arduous duties, their hardihood of body as well as of mind.

There was also something else which might give me another place to search in the records:

The pay was 10s. 6d. a week; in addition, there were regular tips, seldom withheld by the public and not discouraged by the Post Office. There was provision for sick-benefit and retirement pension and a contribution of two guineas towards the funeral expenses of a guard.

I don’t think Thomas lived long enough to gain a retirement pension, but maybe his widow received some form of pension, and probably the two guineas towards his funeral.

It appears that the mail guard was not just responsible for the safety of the mail, but was in charge of pretty much every aspect of the operation:

He was responsible for giving the word to go, for the maintenance of speed, the conduct and sobriety of the coachman, and for taking action when breakdowns and other mishaps occurred.

On this final point the author also notes that:

It was part of his training to go through the shops of the factory at Millbank and carried a considerable kit of tools and spares to effect roadside repairs.

What I am seeing is a picture of a man who had to be resourceful, honest, reliable, strong, intelligent, courageous and loyal (amongst other things). It makes me proud to say that my 4x great grandfather was a mail guard.

¹ Vale, Edmund. The Mail-Coach Men of the late Eighteenth Century. Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles (Publishers) Ltd, 1967

Tombstone Tuesday: Mabel Annie and Ernest Arthur TROWER

Mabel Annie and Ernest Arthur TROWER were brother and sister, my 2x great aunt and uncle. The gravestone tells a sad story of two young people whose lives were cut short. Ernest’s body was never found and he is remembered here at Sayers Common, Sussex and also in Tyne Cot Cemetery, Belgium.

The gravestone of Mabel Annie TROWER and Ernest Arthur TROWER

The inscription reads:

IN
LOVING MEMORY OF
MABEL ANNIE TROWER
WHO FELL ASLEEP APRIL 11TH 1928
AGED 35 YEARS
ALSO OF
ERNEST ARTHUR TROWER
KILLED IN ACTION AT YPRES
SEP 23RD 1917, AGED 22 YEARS

THE RIGHTEOUS LIVETH FOR EVERMORE

How to find the cheapest English and Welsh birth, marriage and death certificates on the internet

Everyone should already know this, this is nothing new and there is no big secret to paying less for birth, marriage and death certificates, but I feel it cannot be said often enough. The cheapest and easiest place online to order copies of English and Welsh civil registration documents is the General Register Office website.

The Directgov website will give you all the details including cost, references needed, alternative methods of ordering and delivery times etc. on the Order birth, marriage or death certificates page.

Certificates can be supplied even if you don’t have the index reference (for a slightly higher price) but many of the indexes have already been transcribed on FreeBMD so it should be possible in many cases to find the reference yourself, free of charge also.

Birth, marriage and death certificates are one of the most important types of record for English and Welsh family history researchers, but please don’t spend a fortune on them, use the official website.