Parish Register Newsletter: June 2010

Welcome to the parishregister June newsletter. Once again I've got a few new goodies to tempt you this month, including volume 71 in our Parish Register series, a new compendium CD, a new apprenticeship binding CDfrom Rob Cottrell and I've produced a database (St Peter's Limehouse) in street name order instead of date order.

Searchable Databases

Last month: St Dunstan Stepney 1608-1628

Next month will be the next in the St Dunstan series, 1629-1641

To search the site click here

New CD

Last Month:

Volume 70 St John Wapping 1734-1780

To buy this CD please click here: Vol 70

This month:

Volume 71 St Mary Stratford 1771-1813

To buy this CD please click here: vol 71

Now, here's a first!

Vol 1 St Peter's Limehouse 1866-1903 Address database

I mentioned quite some time ago that I was thinking of ordering a database in street name alphabetical order, well in between boring world cup games I've done my first one! I have rearranged the St Peter's Limehouse 1866-1903 database so that you can now see, at a glance who lived in a house in those years. Obviously it does not cover every house in a street as only those households who registered a baptism in those years will appear on the database. However this CD will interest historians and anyone who would like to know who lived in a particular house or if anyone lived with their family in the same house.

If you would like to buy this at an introductory price of £6.95 please click here: address

Also, here's another in our compendium series:

St Dunstan, Stepney Parish Register 1730-1848

This CD consists of our single CDs

vol 50 1730-1745

vol 39 1746-1757

vol 45 1757-1770

vol 58 1770-1798

vol 26 1798-1808

vol 37 1808-1816

vol 17 1816-1822

vol 19 1822-1826

vol 56 1826-1835

vol 62 1835-1837

vol 67 1837-1848

If you bought these separately that would be 11 lots of £7.95, what's that, nearly £88, but we're offering you this compendium at a bargain price of £39.95, £10 less than it will be in two weeks time!

To buy this CD please click here: St Dunstan

AND, here's the latest in the apprenticeship series of CDs from Rob Cottrell

Apprenticeship Bindings 1950-1959

Indexed from the original register at Waterman's Hall, these records take the total coverage of the apprenticeship bindings.

A typical entry reads as follows:

3504. YOUNG, WILLIAM GEORGE 1935 MAR 19 STANLEY, WILLIAM SMITH 1940 SEP 10
with the first name being the apprentice and the latter his master. The first date is the binding date, the second the freedom date

To buy this CD please click here: AB

Merchant Taylors 1530-1928 - to search click here Merchant Taylors

Find out more about the Merchant Taylors click here: Merchanttaylors.net

In transcription

St Matthew Bethnal Green 1799-1819

St George in the East 1877-1893

St Anthony Globe Road 1879-1899

St Dunstan Stepney 1628-1637

Other selected products

East of London Family History Society

New!

Tower Hamlets Rate Books (Vol 1)- Disc1

Miscellaneous Rate Index covering various Areas between 1725-1875
Previous Society publication in fiche or book form now converted into CD.

Bethnal Green Church Rates 1743. Bethnal Green Rate 1850 -1.
Bow Poor Rate 1837. Bow Rate April 1851.
Bromley Church Rate June 1861. Bromley Land Tax 1750. Old Artillery Ground Drainage Rate 1861. Poplar Church Rate June 1851.
Shadwell Poor Rate 1725. St George in the East Land Tax 1801. Wapping Watch Rate 1800. Wapping Church Rate 1875.
Whitechapel Watch Rate 1800 & 1805

To buy this product please click here: Ratevol1

St Andrews

Burials & M.I. St. Andrews Church, Hornchurch. 1576-2000
Surname index of Monumental Inscriptions and Burials, of 17,195 names for the years of 1576 - 2000.
This month there's £2 off this product. To buy it please click here: St Andrew

Cockney Ancestors

Cockney Ancestor. The first 100.

NOW available a CD containing the first 100 editions of Cockney Ancestor.

There's also £2.50 off this product, so if you want it, click here: Cockney

Frogleys

The Frogley Index and Manuscript (History of Barking)

There's also £2.50 off this little gem, so once again, click here if you'd like to buy it: Frog

Other products in this series include:

Crow Lane Burial index 1871-1953 listing 20,000 entries.

Census 1851 West Ham.HO107/1768.

Census 1891 Hackney Part 1.RG12/0179 - 0194.

Census 1891 West Ham Part 1 RG12/1310 - 1325

Census 1891 West Ham Part 2 RG12/1326 - 1342

Watermen & Lightermen

Apprenticeships Bindings Index 1692-1908 (Vols 1-9)

You can browse all of the other Watermen and Lightermen products by clicking here: W&L

Catholic Registers

SS. Mary and Joseph, Poplar Roman Catholic Chapel.

Marriages and Baptisms 1818 - 1856

To buy this CD please click here: SSMary

Misc Catholic London District Baptism, Marriages and Burials Vol 1

27 indexed transcriptions of Catholic Parish Registers from churches, chapels and missions in the county of Middlesex

To buy this CD please click here: Catholic 2

The Registers of the Sardinian Embassy Chapel, London, 1772 - 1841(Church of SS Anselm and Cecilia in Holborn). This comprises indexed transcriptions of over 22000 baptisms hitherto unpublished, a work which has taken them about 10 years to produce!!In total there are 60000 odd entries on this CD, a bargain at £7.95!

To buy this CD please click here: Catholic 3

Misc Catholic London District Transcriptions, Baptisms, Marriages,Confirmations Vol 2

·       French Chapel Royal: Baptisms 1842-1911 and Marriages 1846-1910
·         Kentish Town, St Alexis: Baptisms 1849-1854
·         Blessed Virgin Mary of Czestochowa and St Stanislaus Kostka Chapels, Central London: Baptisms 1863-1877
·         Soho St Patrick: Baptisms 1779-1851, Index to Baptisms 1793-1937, Confirmations 1818-1854 and Marriages 1809-1856
·         Southwark St George's Fields Chapel: Baptisms 1788-1823 and Marriages 1823-1837
·         St James, Spanish Place, Westminster: Baptisms 1732-1848 and Marriages 1732-1845
·         Standon, Old Hall Green, Herts.: Baptisms 1811-1831, Confirmations 1814-1849 and Marriages 1812-1848
·         Virginia Street Chapel, Wapping: Baptisms 1832-1840

If you would like this CD please click here: Catholic 4

Merchant Taylors

The Merchant Taylors 1520-1929 (36000 entries-Exclusive to Docklands Ancestors!)The index gives the name, date of freedom, method of admission (apprenticeship, patrimony, or redemption), name of master if by apprenticeship, date of election to livery, and 'Remarks'.

To purchase this CD please click here: Merchant Taylors

Thames and River Medway Series

If you'd like to browse the 84 CDs which contain a selection of marriages, banns, burials and baptisms available from Rob Cottrell please click here: T&RMS

SPECIAL OFFER Compendium CDs 1-5

This is a very special offer price for customers who wish to buy our first five Compendium CDs.
Price if bought separately: 60 x £7.95 = £477
Price of individual Compendium CDs: £49.99 + £39.99 + £39.99 + £39.99 + £49.99 = £219.95
Special Offer price: £149.99

To take advantage of this special discount please click here: 1-5

Docklands Ancestors Parish Register CDs - Compendiums' Department

Docklands Ancestors Parish Register CD Department

East of London FHS Publications Department

Map Department

Ecclesiastical Map-County of London 1903

A Map of the Ecclesiastical Divisions within the County of London 1903.

To buy this really useful map (if you're not sure which parish is next to which and wish to search for neighbouring parishes) then click here: Parishmap (a bargain at £5)

Map of Middlesex 1611 by by John Norden and John Speed

The print shown is a copy of the original and so is in colour, the print we offer you is in black and white. The print measures 46cms x 58cms.

To buy this map for £4.95 plus p&p please click here: Middlesex

A Balloon View of London 1851

To buy one for £8.50 click here: Balloon

Devastated London - The Bombed City As Seen From A Barrage Balloon

To buy this (folded) map for the bargain price of £4.50 click here: Devastated London

London and Its Environs 1813

Price: £3.95! To buy this map and for more information please click here

Rocque's 1745 Survey of London

Price: £7.95 To buy this map and for more information please click here

To view our comprehensive Alan Godfrey maps collection please click here

Waterman & Parish Register Special Offer Price: £129.93

Book Shop

My Ancestors were Thames Watermen: A Guide to Tracing your Thames Waterman and Lighterman (by James Legon)

If you'd like to browse the book shop (save me putting them all in here) we stock books in the following areas:

London History

Watermen and Lightermen

East End - History/Archive Photograph Books

River Thames and Docklands

Rare Books

One-Off Books (used, all good condition)

Step By-Step Guide to Tracing Your Ancestors by D.M.Field (£3.50 plus p & p)

The chapels in the Tower of London (The chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula and the Chapel of St.John The Evangelist by The Reverend John F.M.Llewellyn (£3 plus p & p)

These second-hand titles are not on the site so if you would like to buy one please e-mail Yvonne at jameslegon@gmail.com (first come first served!) and payment is by cheque only.

Research Services

Our particular areas of expertise include the Company of Watermen and Lightermen Archives and Parish Records for both the City of London and the East End. However, we undertake all aspects of research including Census Data, Electoral Rolls, Wills, Newspaper Searches etc.
If you think we might be able to help you then do contact us. Email Esme at research@parishregister.com. We will discuss your requirements and advise on options. If you want us to undertake research on your behalf, we will agree a proposal and a price. Typically, you will receive a written report, setting out the objectives, itemising in detail the sources and documents searched and discussing the results (both positive and negative). Photocopies of relevant entries will be included.

Royal Waterman's Square

I am indebted to George Moss, an ex lighterman, for passing on another interesting article which was written by Jane Furnival who bought the chapel in Royal Waterman’s Square, home of the alms houses for retired watermen in Penge. I have edited the article and changed it from the first person to the third. I hope you find it as interesting as I did.

‘The chapel in Royal Waterman’s square, south London, is spookily gothic, laced with leering gargoyles, and crowned with two tall towers, like Camelot’s battlements. It is the focal point of Royal Waterman’s square, a little park bordered by cloistered cottages. A plaque outside says it was built in 1840 as an ‘asylum’-not a mental hospital but almshouses for retired people, old Thames Watermen; characterful Cockneys who ferried around and across the Thames for centuries before there were bridges.

The square flourished for a century, but was badly bombed in 1941, but repairing it was too costly for its owners, the Company of Watermen and Lightermen, whose fortunes had dwindled since the 19th century. London’s new docks wiped out the small boats that ferried goods ashore from cargo ships and new bridges, trains and trams spelled the end for passenger boats too, So bomb-torn Watermen’s square made do with zinc roofs instead of Welsh slates. These degenerated so badly that the residents moved elsewhere in 1971. The land was sold and some of the buildings were demolished, before a preservation order was made. After a facelift the cottages were sold or rented out by Bromley Council. Meanwhile, the jewel in the crown, the chapel, lay unloved. Gargoyles were stripped from the hammer-beam roof. Huge latticed windows were smashed. The grand entrance stairs collapsed. Eventually, it was auctioned for £25000. The buyers used grants to make it habitable until, defeated by the cost of its upkeep, they put it on the market. For another ten years it remained unsold It was then bought by Jane Furnival and her husband. They decided to restore the building to its original condition. The British library provided them with a print of the square in 1844, amazingly unchanged but without the central monument to its founder John Dudin Brown, who died in 1855. Some nuggets of history dropped into their laps, when they employed old local firms to work on the building. Mr Butler, their chimney sweep, recalled his father doing the same job. He said, “Your chimneys are more complicated than the ones at Buckingham Palace.” He also solved a puzzle; why did they have two bread ovens in the outer walls? He said that they weren’t ovens; they were doors to give the sweeps; brushes access to the flues so that little boys didn’t have to climb inside and clean them. Outside there were dolphin shaped pumps that were used to provide water during the cholera epidemic in 1831. Jane explained that despite this modernisation, the building seemed to be Victorian retro. On a visit to Hampton Court she realised where the inspiration came from; the gatehouse of Henry VIII’s palace looked suspiciously like their chapel and they saw ‘their’ heraldic gargoyles there. So, why copy the Tudors? She thought it was down to Sir Walter Scott, who was so popular then, and the fashion for harking back to a golden age. Watermen’s square, with its towers and cloisters, reminded the Victorians of a gentler age when supposedly you could find a bed and care in a monastery.

Who had lived and worked in the chapel? She found the Company of Watermen and Lightermen’s records and learned that sheltered housing is not a modern concept. John Williams, 65, and his wife Mary, 71, had to show their marriage certificate before moving in on May 11th 1841. Once accepted, the care was excellent, to judge by the number of staff. Mr Hayes the gardener was paid £14 3s 6d in 1885 while the reverend Anolly received a princely £36 5s for services to the inmates over three months. Dr Wood, the surgeon, gained £20 for six months. The company also introduced her to Ray Hackett, the last caretaker at Waterman’s Square. She went to visit him in Hastings, where he looked after the watermen in their new retirement home. Ray told her that the chapel was hardly holy when he arrived as maintenance man in 1963, “If you wanted to hear bad language , you watched the lightermen play snooker there every afternoon.” He said.

If you would like to purchase the CD which contains the scanned pages of a 34 page booklet listing the patrons, inmates (that sounds like prison!), candidates and unsuccessful candidates of the Royal Asylum at Penge please click here RA

Interesting Sites

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British-Genealogy.com

British Genealogy is a completely free family history help and advice site together with a really friendly, helpful forum which is affectionately known as Brit-Gen.

They are here to try and help you trace your British Ancestry - brick walls being their speciality, so why not take a look, if you haven't already of course!

Curious Fox

Funny name for a genealogy site! It's a village by village contact site for anybody researching family history, genealogy and local history in the UK and Ireland. Every UK county, town and village has a page for family history, local history, surname and genealogy enquiries. Use the search box to find your village or town.

I thought you might also like to have a look at the sister site of Thames Tugs, which is Lighteragetugs

British Surnames

Here's a site where you can find information on surnames, similar surnames, most common surnames, surname meanings, and etymologies, and you can also discuss your name in the forum

As the name suggests, this site primarily lists surnames commonly found in Britain, but many of these are found in other parts of the world as well - so even if you're not British, your name could well be in here!

Last month I looked at the history of the spelling of Bethnal Green, well this month I thought I'd investigate 'Myle end'.The area takes its name from a milestone placed to mark the point one mile east of the boundary of the City of London at Aldgate. Although long gone, the milestone would have stood near Stepney Green underground station (Mile End London A History) Wikipedia has this to say about its beginnings,

Whilst there are many references to settlements in the area, excavations have suggested there were very few buildings before 1300.

Mile End Road is an ancient route from London to the East, and was moved to its present day alignment after the foundation of Bow Bridge in 1110. In the medieval period it was known as ‘Aldgatestrete’, as it led to the eastern entrance to the City of London at Aldgate. The area running alongside Mile End Road was known as Mile End Green, and became known as a place of assembly for Londoners, reflected in the name of Assembly Passage. For most of the medieval period, this road was surrounded by open fields on either side, but speculative developments existed by the end of the 16th century and continued throughout the 1700s.

Ramblings from the Council Estate

Well, how are you coping with the excitement of the world cup and Wimbledon both at once? I haven't got too excited about the world cup, although I must say how well N.Z did; they went home unbeaten, came third ahead of Italy, and played with passion and pride, I wish I could say the same for our bunch of over-paid, delusional......stop!!!!! It's only a game, yes?

Oh yes, and that ridiculous tennis match, did you see it? Well only if you happened to have 11 hours spare! I flicked over to BBC2, when was it, a few days into Wimbledon, to see this weird looking score of 38 all, '38 what?' I thought to myself, was it a tie break, or a scoreboard malfunction? No, it was games! Then, when I next looked half way through another boring World cup game it was 59 all! What did it end up at, 70-68, unbelievable! It was obvious what was going to happen next; the 6 feet 9 giant who won was so worn out he promptly lost his next game!

My dear mum is over from New Zealand at the moment, supposedly to visit family and friends, oh and to take in a tour of Scotland, but I think it's just to avoid the ravages of a NZ winter! As a matter of fact, today is her birthday, 'so her indoors' has made her a cake. She's had a bit of hassle with the icing, and today being the hottest day of the year is going to make transporting it over to Loughton a bit tricky, it could end up more of a icy puddle than a cake, but hey, it's the thought that counts! Talking about 'her indoors', she's managed to get over the trauma of breaking her toe! Despite some of your emails I still protest my innocence. I think my sporting exploits are beginning to rub off on her though. Has she started running with me, or even walking? Has she taken up a different sport or is she now going to the gym at her work place? Well, almost, she's bought a sports bag to put her gym kit in! There it is, across the room, sitting there (actually someone could trip over it, tut-tut) a lovely pink and black bag with ample room to take training shoes, a towel etc, waiting, and waiting, and waiting to be used, but no, it remains idle, redundant and unloved! Still, it's a positive step in the right direction, I'm sure you'll agree, and who knows, this time next month I might have something more encouraging to report, maybe she'll have moved it to a safer place, or put a pair of sports socks in it.

Oh yes, back to mother dear. You'll never guess what some people do to get some extra attention at the airport. Well, listen to this 'cause you might want to try it yourself, although I wouldn't recommend it if you're the wrong side of 100, or even slightly younger. Ok, there she was, having just waved goodbye to her other half (he's joining us all next week) when she spotted the first class lounge and thought 'Oooh I could do with some of that!' So quick as a flash she pushed her rogue trolley away from her and dived to the floor, chucking in a triple rollover like Drogba of Chelsea, and no doubt letting out a little yelp like Ronaldo, ex-Man Utd. It worked a treat! The lovely people from Air New Zealand came flocking, and most concerned for her well-being took her, now comfortably seated in a wheel-chair, into the first class lounge where they treated her like royalty and gave her a free medical!

Well, that's the family bashing out the way! Now I better do a bit off self-bashing just to even things up! As you probably know by now I do quite a lot of running, so when the head in one of my schools suggested I come to a step class after school, I thought, 'Yeah, how hard can that be?' I asked myself this question not really having a clue what a step class is. I told 'her indoors' I was going to do it and a little smirk appeared on her face, 'You've got no coordination!' she said, barely able to conceal a gleeful laugh. Step up, step down, why would I need coordination?? Well, I soon found out. Come the day, there were 9 of us, seven lasses (as William would say), my fellow marathon runner, Robert and me. It started off easily enough, step up, step down, accompanied by some loud, very loud 'with it' music. But then she started adding twists and waving her arms in different directions! No matter how hard I tried I couldn't keep up with the various arms and legs combinations she was going through, my arms and legs just wouldn't obey! Still, I was a good source of entertainment for the others! Mind you, it wasn't only me, Robert was almost as bad. That night, 'her indoors' asked how it went, 'No, problems, piece of cake' I lied, and headed straight to the cake tin!

Just for a change I thought I'd end by testing your general knowledge, although I'd rather thousands of you didn't e-mail me the answers! Anyway, here goes, oh and I bet you don't get more than three right!

1) How long did the Hundred Years' War last ?

2) Which country makes Panama hats ?

3) From which animal do we get cat gut ?

4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution ?

5) What is a camel's hair brush made of ?

6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal ?

7) What was King George VI's first name ?

8) What color is a purple finch ?

9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from ?

10) What is the colour of the black box in a commercial airplane ?

Answers next week, if you haven't already Googled them!

THE BROKEN LAWN MOWER:

When their lawn mower broke and wouldn't run, Amy kept hinting to Ross that he should get it fixed..

But, somehow he always had something else to take care of first, the truck, the car, playing football.. Always something more important to him.

Finally she thought of a clever way to make her point.

When he arrived home one day, he found her seated in the tall grass, busily snipping away with a tiny pair of sewing scissors. He watched silently for a short time and then went into the house. He was gone only a minute, and when he came out again he handed her a toothbrush.

Ross said, 'When you finish cutting the grass, you might as well sweep the driveway.'

All the best

Jonathan and the team

-A Passion For Family History-

© Docklands Ancestors Ltd.

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