FindMyPast.co.uk have just published 154,074 new parish burial records for Warwickshire. The Birmingham and Midland Family History Society provided these records, in association with the Federation of Family History Societies.

The details are as follows:

Type of records: Burials
Number of records: 154,074
Years covered: 1883–2007
County covered: Warwickshire
Areas covered: Key Hill and Warstone Lane

Ireland 0 - 13 England. That was the score on 18th February 1882 when the England football team played Ireland for the first time and this victory remains England's largest ever win. The 1881-1882 season was the 11th season of competitive football for England but it was the Irish team's international debut and the friendly game took place at Knock Ground, Bloomfield, Belfast.

The game was also a first (and last) international appearance for Robert Stuart King, later to become Rev. Canon Robert Stuart King, who was studying at Oxford University at the time. Robert played in the half-back position and was one of seven who became the 90th players to appear for England. He played for the full 90 minutes of the game and was aged 19 years and 320 days.

If anyone has further information or pictures about the match, or about Robert himself, please contact me.

Robert Stuart King was related to me by marriage, being the husband of the daughter of my 2 x great-grandfather on my 'Dando' side. You can see Robert's family page at www.hibbitt.org.uk/familytree/fam1821.html

[Why Sports Centre Saturday? This phrase has been included in the title in order to take part in Daily Blogging Prompts at Geneabloggers]

Family Tree Section

• Added facts and detailed footnotes for Rev Canon Robert Stuart King:
  http://www.hibbitt.org.uk/familytree/fam1821.html
• Also added basic information for his and his wife, Ruby's (nee Dando), children.

One of the advantages of having your own independent family tree website is that others will often discover it when inputting a simple name search into search engines such as Google – and we all know how rewarding it is when a distant cousin gets in touch or can offer some further information. Having a tree on a commercial site alone (such as Ancestry, Genes Reunited, etc.) will often limit your audience to other users of those particular websites.

This is where GED-GEN comes into its own. What’s GED-GEN I hear you say?


 .....Read more »

It was a bright October day in 1999 when I travelled to France, with 5 family members, including my late gran who was 83 at the time. The journey was special because we were visiting my great-grandfather’s grave where he’d been buried in 1916.

Accidentally killed during WWI, more than eighty years had passed before Henry James Weaver (1882-1916) finally had a relative visit his graveside. It had been my gran’s life-long ambition to see where her father was buried, a father she’d never known and who had died 10 days before she was born.

Henry is buried in grave I.A.10. at Merville Communal Cemetery Extension and pictures from the visit can be seen in my website gallery.


The note attached to the poppy wreath which my gran laid at the graveside

[Why Those Places Thursday? This phrase has been included in the title in order to take part in Daily Blogging Prompts at Geneabloggers]

ScotlandsPeople are offering all customers who have existing credits in their account the opportunity to re-activate and use the credits at no cost through the use of a voucher code. They are doing this to allow customers who have expired credits to take the opportunity to use them without making a purchase.

All customers who have existing credits can now use the free voucher code festive which will re-set the credit expiry to 90 days in their account. Customers may use this voucher any time until 1.00 pm. on Wednesday 5th January 2011. The voucher may only be used once in each account.

For information on how to use the voucher, click here.

My great-grandmother's (Alice Ridley) birth certificate states that her father was Henry Ridley, a blacksmith, and her mother, Ann Ridley formerly Cotterill. Henry was 'Harry' on Alice's marriage certificate.

I see her family in Birmingham on the 1871 census before Alice was born. Living there are Alice's three elder siblings:

Henry's age is difficult to read but it looks like 30 (b. abt 1841), born in Birmingham, Warwickshire. He is a blacksmith on the census too.
Ann (actually Hannah Maria Cotterill) was born in Dudley Worcestershire in abt 1842.
1) Joseph (who is Joseph Henry), b. abt 1864 in Wednesbury, Staffs.
2) Mary A, b. abt 1868 in Moxley, Staffs
3) Alfred, b. abt 1870 in Derby, Staffs

I've traced Alice's mother in later censuses and she was no longer with Henry. She married a George Oakes in 1874 as Cotterill, her maiden name. As I hadn't been able to find a marriage between Alice's parents, this fits.

My problem is all I have for Henry Ridley is one definite census where his age is uncertain. I believe he might be the same Henry that I see in later censuses living with 'Elizabeth' in various parts of Lancashire.

Firstly, how might I gather further evidence to support the supposition that my Henry is definitely the one with Elizabeth - there's no marriage again as far as I can see.

Secondly, and even more pertinent is how can I find out who Henry's parents were? FreeBMD doesn't offer any clues as to his birth. The censuses show a possible family where the father is William and the mother is Lydia. FamilySearch reveals the same family with a baptism in 1839 in St Thomas, Birmingham. However, there may be other possibilities and I don't feel there's enough to go on so far to be certain that I'm tracing the correct ancestry. Even if I do manage to find a birth certificate for Henry, what information might it reveal to help me ascertain that he's definitely mine?

One of my most treasured possessions is the tea set given to me by my grandmother, Phyllis Grace Geake (nee Weaver). It had belonged to her mother, Florence Smale, and it is thought to have been a wedding present. Therefore this lovely Crown Staffordshire 12 place china set probably dates before 1915, almost an antique!


The set comprises 12 cups and saucers, 12 tea plates, 2 large cake plates, a sugar bowl, milk jug, tea pot and hot water jug with metal lid (my favourite item)......Read more »

Family Tree Section

• Added facts and detailed footnotes for my 2 x great-grandfather, William Henry Weaver (1848-1944), shoemaker of Curry Rivel in Somerset:
  http://www.hibbitt.org.uk/familytree/fam1858.html
• Added William's mother, Ann Weaver, my 3 x great-grandmother. It appears she had William out of wedlock:
  http://www.hibbitt.org.uk/familytree/fam71181.html
• Next, added my 4 x great-grandparents, Robert & Sarah Weaver, together with their children. Robert was also known to be a shoe maker:
  http://www.hibbitt.org.uk/familytree/fam71185.html
• Added the next generation of Weavers in Curry Rivel, Robert Weaver and Ann Twogood, my 5 x great-grandparents, and their children:
  http://www.hibbitt.org.uk/familytree/fam71942.html
• Added my 6 x great-parents, John Weaver and Mary Fidoe, who married in 1745, and also added their children:
  http://www.hibbitt.org.uk/familytree/fam43902.html

Gallery Section

• Added photograph of William Henry Weaver

Resources > Reports Section

• I've updated the maternal family tree reports and the ancestors of Phyllis Grace Weaver report at:
  http://www.hibbitt.org.uk/treereports.html

A while ago Ancestry.co.uk reached an agreement with The National Archives to acquire and publish online the 1911 England and Wales Census. Because it's such a large collection they're putting it up in stages, starting with the Summary Books which have just been launched.

The complete set of 1911 Census record images will launch online in early 2011, followed by the indexes, which will be made available in sections throughout the remainder of 2011.