U3A Peak District Family History Network 3rd Annual Conference
20 September 2015, The Palace Hotel, Buxton
Members of U3A family history groups from the East Midlands, West Midlands and North
West regions form the U3A Peak District Family History Network and once again organised
another very successful conference. Over 200 delegates from all over the UK attended and
were entertained with speakers and various exhibitors. They were welcomed by Anne
Rogerson, Chairman of Buxton U3A, who gave a brief history of the Palace Hotel which was
designed by Henry Curry to service the arrival of the railway in 1863. She then introduced
Marion Clements, Vice Chairman of the 3rd Age Trust and Chair of the Education committee,
who was our guest for the day. Ian Taylor, organiser of the conference, then introduced
each of our speakers.
Roy Stockdill is a professional genealogist, Trustee of the Society of Genealogists (London), a
family historian for 40 years, lecturer, and writer for Family Tree magazine. He had a long
career in newspapers and worked for over 30 years for News International. During his talk
“Ancestors in Print” he said that old newspapers did not just deal with the rich and famous,
but also with ordinary people, especially since the abolition of tax on newspapers in the
1850s. They tell us a lot about social history and it is important to look at advertisements as
well as news and announcements. Examples of things to be found are ‘hatched, matched,
despatched’, obituaries, letters, local gossip, public and legal notices, church
announcements, military news, sports news, etc. Stories can appear in newspapers in
different parts of the country not just the local area. Historic newspapers can now be
searched online.
Roy kept the delegates entertained with lots of very interesting examples of clips from
historic papers relating to his own ancestors. He concluded his talk with a warning that it is
very easy to get side tracked by bizarre and comic headlines, again illustrated with
examples.
Peter Higginbotham is the creator a website devoted to workhouses which he started in
2000. He has written a number of books and articles on the subject and has contributed to
numerous TV and radio programmes
Peter’s talk “Sources for Workhouse Research” gave a flavour of some of the sources that
are available, details of which are on his website. He referred to several books on the
subject, including one written as far back as 1732 and suggested that if an old workhouse
building still exists it is well worth visiting. He told the audience about various workhouse
museums they could visit and also suggested they should consult old maps and plans of
workhouses. Clues that a workhouse once existed can sometimes be found in street signs
(e.g. Guardians Court).
Peter went on talk about the history of the Poor Law and the numerous reports and
questionnaires that were published. He detailed some of the records that can be found in
national and local archives. The survival of individual Poor Law Union records is very
variable. Creed Register Books (where they exist) are always the ones to start with. Local
newspapers are also worth consulting. He then concluded by outlining the differences in
the systems of Poor Relief in Scotland and Ireland.
The final speaker was Jackie Depelle a family history tutor, speaker and event organiser who
talked about “Non-Conformist Records”
Jackie followed on from the previous talk by saying that Creed Register Books will identify if
someone was a non-conformist. There are also articles on the subject in Family History
magazines and County Record Office archives are also useful sources of information.
The 1753 Hardwicke Marriage Act declared that all marriage ceremonies must be conducted
by a minister in a parish church or chapel of the Church of England to be legally binding, but
Jew and Quakers were exempted. Non-conformists would often marry by licence rather
than attend church to hear Banns read, therefore Marriage Bonds and Allegations are also a
very useful source of information.
Baptisms and burials could still take place in non-conformist premises. Some nonconformist records are available online and cemetery plans may indicate that an ancestor
was non-conformist; if the burial was in the general rather than the consecrated area. Also,
the name of the minister on burial records may indicate the denomination.
Jackie suggested using Google street view for photos of churches (where they still exist) and
consulting old maps and plans. She listed numerous other resources including the British
Newspaper Archive, the subject of the first talk of the day.
Closing Remarks
Marion Clements spoke again at the end of the Conference. She had attempted some
family history research some time ago but had given up, attending the Conference today has
enthused her to have another try.
Ian Taylor thanked the speakers and all those who worked hard to make the Conference a
success, specifically Carole Williams from Leek and Kim Liddle from Buxton. He is already
planning the 2016 Conference.