May 2008

Our traditional image of a pretty village centre, inhabited by the butcher, baker, candlestick maker and perhaps a milliner for a Jane Austen character to buy a new bonnet from, evolved slowly from the middle ages and only really came into being in the 19th century....

In the 17th Century Lowestoft was a prosperous port. The rich merchants built houses high on the cliff overlooking the sea and the lower town. Lowestoft grew and prospered and many of the merchants' houses became shops. The lower floor was where the goods were stored...

In one of my favourite parts of Charles Dickens’ 'A Christmas Carol' the ghost of Christmas Present takes Scrooge through the streets of London, and just before they reach the Crachitts’ there is an evocative description of a grocer's shop at Christmas. “The Grocers’,...

The following text is taken from the diary records of my great x3 grandfather, David Maynard, held at the Cambridge county record office and transcribed by my cousin, Guy Maynard, in 1959. “I was born in a village called Kempston in Bedfordshire in August 1748. My...

William Ewing and his wife Elizabeth Duncan are my great x2 grandparents on my paternal grandmother’s side. They married in Newton Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland on the 31st December 1849, when they were both 17 years old. William Ewing was the son of Samuel Ewing and Agnes...

During the Second World War my mum, her sisters and parents were evacuated from Eastbourne to Thrupp in Gloucestershire, where my grandfather, a carpenter by trade, worked in a local aircraft factory. My mum’s maternal grandmother, Maud, took a job as a cook at the...

A number of years ago my mother was very interested in her family tree and spent some time tracing her relatives here in New Zealand. Her great grandparents, immigrants from England and Ireland, had all settled in the South Island of New Zealand, but her parents had...

On my dad’s side of the family there were definitely four generations of boot and shoemakers, and one of my great grandfather’s grandchildren knew the boot and shoemaking trade, although he didn't take it on as a career, as he was a leather merchant until the 1940s....

When we finally cleared my father’s house I rediscovered my Granny’s postcard collection. Some were in a couple of rather dog-eared albums and others were loose. I remembered playing with them as a child, and my daughter had also looked at them and enjoyed rearranging...

When I was about 13 years old, I was visiting my grandparents' house and we were watching the television programme, the Antiques Roadshow. They showed a beautiful ring, which was quite simple, with three small diamonds in it. My nan said that she had one just like...

On May 9th 1945 the Union Flag  was raised at the Pomme d'Or. For the islanders of Jersey, this is one of the most important days in their history. On 1st July 1940 the island was invaded and occupied by around 11,500 German troops (about one for every three...