These amazing treasurers, a set of WWI dog tags and medals together with the envelope they were delivered in, were brought into the Crewe Research Centre today by a FHSC member.  We are helping Sue to research her family history, and these belonged to an ancestor, who happily survived the war.

The dog tags, over 100 years old, astounded us all, they were very light in weight but perfectly preserved and have obviously been treasured by the family – it was a privilege to be able to hold such a tangible set of artifacts from WWI

I have mentioned the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure previously and advertised the website in the Ancestor - reently they have launched a new interactive website which allows user to map occupational structure from 1600-1911 and 2011

Find out more and give it a try http://economiespast.org

The Addressing Health Data Mapper is a tool to present and share data generated by the Addressing Health project. The project examines the health of UK postal workers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. It uses information about sickness-related absences and retirement derived from pension records and other sources of evidence.

Find out more and access the data base at this link 👉https://data.addressinghealth.org.uk/

Members may be interested in this new little webapp -  British Placename Mapper - created by Robin Wilson, It allows you to search for place names that match various criteria (starts with 'great', ends with 'burgh' etc) and plot them on an interactive map

Link to try it out 👉https://placenames.rtwilson.com/

Image is of placename search I did for places ending in 'wich' 

1st of the month means my usual list of free to attend online events, I hope you find something to enjoy, please let me know 

Full details in link under each event

25% off all The British Newspaper Archive subscriptions this Easter. Offer ends April 3rd.

:Link 👉https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/account/subscribe?PromotionCode=EASTER25

FHSC Trustees and Committee would like to wish all members a happy and joyful Easter, wherever and however you choose to celebrate. 

📷John Horns Easter Eggs, Date 1907  Credit: The National Archives - Ref Copy 1/263 [255]

The National Records of Scotland online Suffragettes portal contains a wealth of primary source research material, from letters and journals to criminal case papers. 

Free to access here 👉https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files/exhibitions/women-suffrage/profiles.html

Some news from the British History Online which you may like to take advantage of - 

On February 29 2024, we upgraded our website to Drupal 10, and moved server. In the process, there have been a number of problems with subscriptions, logging in, and searching the content. We are working to fix these problems, and appreciate your patience whilst this is accomplished. In the meantime, we have lowered the paywall, and are allowing access to all our material to all visitors.

Link 👉https://www.british-history.ac.uk/

 The Wirral History and Heritage Association annual Fair takes place this Saturday 23rd March at Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight between 10am - 4pm

FHSC along with other Historical Societies will be in attendance

Admission is free, as is the parking and the site is level access with a cafe - a good day out in other words! 

The venue postcode is CH62 5DH, [Bolton Road, Bebington] just off the A41, 5 minutes walk from Port Sunlight Station

Any queries to                             

The National Library of Scotland Map Collections have just added a new feature to their Map Images Website

You can now search by postcode in the Map Finder or Georeferenced Viewers.

Find out more here 👉https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/help.html#ngr

Watch out also for our May Seminar, when Chris Fleet from the National Libraries of Scotland is coming to talk to us about the map images collection, how to use it and get the best out of this wonderful free resource. Full details will be out soon but keep 15th May free! 

As part of their 40 year celebrations, Family Tree magazine (UK) are asking for your top 40 family history books - fact or fiction.

Get voting!

Link for full details 👉https://www.family-tree.co.uk/news/top-40-family-history-books/

The National Archives (TNA) has announced a contract to digitise, transcribe and publish the four million records of the Home Guard in the Second World War and 1950s.

The records are among 14 million records of personnel who served in all branches of the armed forces between 1920 and 1963 which are currently being transferred from the Ministry of Defence to TNA.

Reaad more 👉https://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/news/the-national-archives-contract-digitise-home-guard-records

Find out more here 👉

https://thediscoverblog.com/2024/03/07/accessing-personnel-records-of-the-first-world-war-a-new-database-at-library-and-archives-canada/

Article on the BBC website makes interesting reading

Link 👉https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-68469493