WW1 Centenary Quilt may come to Ireland

Philippa McCray's gt uncle, Richard
Stringer, was her inspiration

As it's Armistice Day today, I thought I'd write about a WW1 centenary project that has a strong family history theme. It's the First World War Centenary Quilt, which was launched back in January by Philippa McCray, the Administrator for the Federation of Family History Societies.

She came up with the Centenary Quilt idea as a way to commemorate in fabric and thread those who served in the British or Commonwealth forces during WW1 and did not return. She thought it would appeal to family historians and others who would like to commemorate a member of their family or someone in their local community, and raise funds for two very worthy causes: Help for Heroes and Quilts for Injured Servicemen (Q4IS).

I heard about the project from Anne Robinson, Chair of the North of Ireland Family History Society, when we were chatting at WDYTYA? in London back in April. Anne had already worked her squares at that point.

Those taking part make a donation to the project and receive a square of fabric and red thread with which they can record the details of the soldier who died. You don't need to be related to the soldier.

I don't have any close ancestors who died in WW1, so I chose to commemorate a young man, Daniel Santry, who lived in Bandon, not far from where my paternal granddad was raised. I had carried out some research on his family some years ago – there's just a faint possibility our two lines meet in the very early 1800s, but I haven't been able to prove it – and knew that, with both parents dead, there was only his brother, Daniel, to mourn him when he was killed in 1918. Daniel subsequently emigrated to the USA.

And then I decided, what the heck, and chose another Santry – Patrick – as well.

With humility (and the hope that the joyless Sr Mary Lawrence isn't still on a mission to criticise my stitching skills) I present photos of my two embroidered squares which are now on their way back to Philippa.

She says that she will continue to send out the fabric/thread packs until the end of the year, so there's still time to make your contribution to it. See the WW1 Centenary Quilt website for details of how to take part and for some design inspiration.

When all the stitched squares have been sent back, there's just the small (ha ha) matter of stitching them together. Philippa told Irish Genealogy News that Brenda Lincoln, who is one of the team behind Q4IS, will be masterminding the construction of the hangings.

"I use the word 'hangings' because the project is proving so successful there will be far too many squares for one quilt!", she said. "We have lots of ideas for final design but will not make any firm decision until we have all the squares back. We plan to display in a variety of locations and I'm hoping to bring it to Ireland."

As you can see from my efforts, you don't need to be an expert with the needle. It doesn't take a lot of time, and you can adjust the level of detail or embellishment as you prefer. And the minimum donation is just £3.50. Don't delay if you want to take part!

You can follow the progress of the Quilt on facebook.

Fifty directories ready for Limerick research

Limerick County Library's Local Studies department has just completed a project to upload its entire collection of local Trades & Streets Directories to its website – all 50 of them! Where the Directory covered a wider area than Limerick (ie Francis Guy's Directory of Munster), only the Limerick pages have been uploaded. The earliest dates from 1769, the most recent to 1976, and they are now freely available for download in pdf format.

The Limerick City data from the 1769–1925 directories is additionally searchable in a Trades Register database. This database holds nearly 60,000 records and is searchable by trades, directory or by surname (the latter by Advanced Search).

A screenshot below shows how useful this index will be for those researching Limerick City ancestors.

The Boys from East Belfast film now online

Following its first public screening last night in Dundela (see blogpost), the film 'The Boys from East Belfast' can now be viewed online as the Archive of the Month from the Representative Church Body Library (RCBL).

It's an interesting tale, just 10 minutes-long, weaving the tale of the ten soldiers who were serving at the Western Front and the story of the letters' discovery. The RCBL's Archive of the Month page includes additional details about the two soldiers who survived the war.

You can also view the film direct on YouTube here.

Irish genealogy and history events, 10–22 November

Monday 10 November: WW1 Ancestors. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Newtownabbey branch. Venue: Drama Theatre of Glengormley High School, Ballyclare Road, Newtownabbey, Co Antrim. 7pm–9:15pm.

Monday 10 November: A day in the life – PRONI's Flickr portraits, with Joy Carey and Heather Stanley. Venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 1pm. Free.

Monday 10 November: The Boys from East Belfast, the first public screening of a new WW1 documentary (see blogpost). Host: RCBLibrary and the Church of Ireland Historical Centenaries Working Group. Venue: St Marks, Holywood Road, Dundela, Co Down. Free. 6pm.

Tuesday 11 November: The workers and the war: The Home Front in county Armagh, with Dr Colin Cousins. . Hosts: Craighavon Museum Services and Craighavon Historical Society. Venue: Craighavon Civic Centre, Lakeview Road, Craighavon, Co Armagh BT64 1AL. 7:30-9pm. Free. Details: 028 3832 2205.

Tuesday 11 November: Guns and hoses – Dublin Fire Brigade during the Irish Revolution, with Las Fallon. Host: Tallaght Historical Society. Venue: County Library, Library Square, Tallaght, Dublin 24. 7pm.

Tuesday 11 November: Art in 11th-century Dublin, with Ruth Johnson. Part of the Living and Dying in a medieval city – Dublin in the Age of Clontarf lunchtime lecture series. Host: Friends of Medieval Dublin. Venue: Wood Quay Venue, Civic Offices, Wood Quay, Dublin 8. Time: 1:05pm to 1:45pm. Free.

Tuesday 11 November: Women and WW1 conference and launch of The First World War Diaries of Emma Duffin, Belfast Voluntary Aid Detachment Nurse, by Trevor Parkhil. Venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 2–5pm. Admission is FREE, but you need to secure your place by email to proni@dcalni.gov.uk or telephone 028 90534800.

Tuesday 11 November: What Estate Papers Reveal, with Valerie Adams. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Lisburn Branch. Venue: Bridge Community Centre, Railway Street, Lisburn, Co Antrim. 7:30pm–9:30pm. All welcome.

Tuesday 11 November: Loughlinstown Workhouse, with Liam Clare. Host: The Genealogical Society of Ireland. Venue: Dún Laoghaire College of Further Education, Cumberland Street, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin. 8pm. €3. All welcome.

Wednesday 12 November: Dublin in 1847: city of the Ordnance Survey, with Dr Frank Cullen. Part of the Mapping City, Town and Country lecture series. Venue: Royal Irish Academy, 19 Dawson Street, Dublin 2. 1-2pm. Free. All welcome. No need to book.

Wednesday 12 November: The Land War in County Galway, with Pat Finnegan. Host: Western Family History Association. Venue: Lackagh Parish Centre, Co Galway. 8:15pm. All welcome. Details.

Wednesday 12 November: Our shared musical heritage, with Brian Mullen.  Part of the Irish language and culture lecture series. Venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. All welcome. 1pm to 2pm. Free, but booking required. Email proni@dcalni.gov.uk or telephone 028 90  534800 to reserve your place.

Wednesday 12 November and Thursday 12 November: Explore Your Archive, morning and afternoon workshops to help researchers learn more about the archive, what it holds, how to use it, etc. Venue: PRONI, Titanic Bouvlevard, Belfast. Free. Need to book. Details of sessions.

Thursday 13 to Saturday 15 September: Drop-in genealogy and research sessions. Host: Derry City Council's Archive & Genealogy Service. Venue: Tower Museum, Union Hall Place, Derry-Londonderry BT48 6LU. Part of the Explore Your Archive campaign. Staff will be available from 10-12 and 2-4 pm to answer queries and to profile some of the archive collections available.

Friday 14 November: Aughadown during World War I, with William Casey. Host: ICA Aughadown. Venue: Aughadown Community Hall (GAA Grounds), Co Cork. 8pm. Donations towards Fastnet Walks Project welcome at door. All welcome.

Saturday 15 November: Veterans in a Virgin State: Irish Ex-Service Men and Women of the Great War, with Patrick Lynch. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Fermanagh Branch. Venue: Large Hall in Enniskillen Library. 2:15pm–4:15pm.

Sunday 16 November: The Irish Bridget: Irish Immigrant Women in Domestic Service in America, 1840-1930, with Margaret Lynch Brennan. Irish American Heritage Museum, 370 Broadway, Albany, New York 12207. 2pm–3:30pm. Free. Need to register.

Tuesday 18 November: Trapped by the Border: Northern Nationalists and Southern unionists 1910-1925, with Dr Eamon Phoenix. Part of the Lisburn Museum Lecture Series: Ireland during the Great War. Venue: Lisburn Museum, Market Square, Lisburn, BT28 1AG. 7pm. Free but must be booked in advance – tickets available from museum reception or, for more information call 028 9266 3377.

Tuesday 19 November: Irish Research: the ins and outs, with Lisa Dougherty. Venue: Irish American Heritage Museum, 370 Broadway, Albany, New York 12207. 6:30pm–7:30pm. Free. Need to register.

Wednesday 19 November: The Ordnance Survey now and in the future, with Colin Bray. Part of the Mapping City, Town and Country lecture series. Venue: Royal Irish Academy, 19 Dawson Street, Dublin 2. 1-2pm. Free. All welcome. No need to book.

Wednesday 19 November: The Battle of Clontarf in Irish history and legend, with Colm Lennon. Host: Dún Laoghaire Borough Historical Society. Venue: Kingston Hotel, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin. 8pm. Admission €3.50 non-members.

Thursday 20 November: Belfast Newspaper Library, with Catherine Morrow. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, North Down & Ards Branch. Venue: 1st Presbyterian Church Hall, Upper Main Street, Bangor. 7:30–9:30pm.

Thursday 20 November: How to trace WW1 military records, with John Goodman. Venue: Bunclody Library, Millwood, Carrigduff, Bunclody, Co Wexford. 7pm.

10-week genealogy workshop series starts in Limerick

A new series of Irish genealogy workshops will start this Thursday at the Irish Ancestry Research Centre in Limerick.

The workshops are presented in partnership with University of Limerick (UL) and researchers can choose to go to a single lecture or any number of lectures. Those who attend all the sessions and complete the course assessment will be awarded a 'CPE – Certificate in Family History' from UL.

Lectures are held from 10.30am to 1pm on Thursdays.

Lecture Topics:

Session 1.    Introduction to Genealogy and Irish Genealogical Sources.
Session 2.    Census 1901 and 1911.
Session 3.    Primary (Griffith’s) Valuation and Tithe Applotment.
Session 4.    Software for Genealogy.
Session 5.    Irish Mapping from a Genealogical Perspective.
Session 6.    Building your Family Tree.
Session 7.    Introduction to 17th and 18th Century Sources.
Session 8.    The Registry of Deeds and Parliamentary Papers.
Session 9.    Using Newspapers for Genealogical Research.
Session 10.  Codes and Ethics in Genealogy.

Cost of each session is €35. Full 10 lecture series is €290. Group discounts available.

Contact IARC at +353 61 207114 or email:info@irisharc.org.

The Boys from East Belfast: RCBL's November Archive

A short WW1 film, The Boys from East Belfast, will be screened for the first time at St Mark’s, Holywood Road, Dundela, Co Down on Monday 10 November at 6pm. This is a public event and there is no need to book.

The specially commissioned documentary focuses on the discovery of letters written by ten soldiers from East Belfast who served at the Western Front. It is a collaboration between the Representative Church Body Library (RCBL) in Dublin and the Church of Ireland Historical Centenaries Working Group who have produced it to coincide with this year's Remembrance commemorations.

Filmed and directed by Tim Hood, The Boys from East Belfast re-enacts the full story of how a small collection of letters written by ten soldiers who were also parishioners of the Church of Ireland parish of Dundela ended up in an old tea chest in Kilmore See House, and their subsequent transfer for permanent safekeeping in the RCBL in Churchtown, Dublin. There, in 2014, a group of local historians from East Belfast, who have traced the lives of the letter writers, viewed them for the first time, almost 100 years after they had been written.

The public screening on Monday evening will also be an opportunity to hear from Dr Susan Hood of the RCBL, who discovered the letters, and from the East Belfast historians. The event will be part of a range of Remembrance events taking place over several days at St Mark’s, Dundela, and the letters themselves will be on display there during that period.

From Tuesday 11 November, the film will be available for free viewing via the Church of Ireland website as the RCBL’s November ‘Archive of the Month’.

PRONI to host events for Explore Your Archives Week

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland is to run a series of free events during Explore Your Archives Week (10–14 November).

The programme is based around daily themes to enable visitors to find out how to use PRONI and also serves as an introduction to the records held at the Belfast repository.

All the events are free but booking is required by email to proni@dcalni.gov.uk or by telephone to 028 90534800.

Monday 10 November 

A lunchtime talk (starts 1pm) about Flickr portraits which capture 'a day in the life', with Joy Carey and Heather Stanley. #Dayinthelife

Tuesday 11 November

To mark Armistice Day, PRONI will be playing host to a half-day conference on Women and the First World War as well as Trevor Parkhill's book launch of the Emma Duffin Diaries. A voluntary Aid Detatchment Nurse during the First World War. 2–5pm.   #WW1Archive

Wednesday 12th November and Thursday 13th November

Practical Workshops at PRONI

Session One
10am (1hr) – Using the documents workshop
11am (1hr) – Using the online resources workshop
12am (30mins) – Tour of stores

Session Two
2pm (1hr) – Using the documents workshop
3pm (1hr) – Using the online resources workshop
4pm (30mins) – Tour of stores

Participants will be encouraged to post photographs of themselves working in PRONI on Facebook or Twitter using the hashtags #AskArchivists and #Archiveselfie

Friday 14 November

A rolling loop of animal imates from the archives will be presented on the AV systems in the PRONI building.  #Archiveanimals.

Irish Historic Towns Atlas: Dublin 1756-1847 published

The latest in the Dublin series of Irish Historic Towns Atlas (IHTA) was launched last night in Dublin by Roddy Doyle. Dublin, part III, 1756 to 1847 comes complete with twenty-five historic and reconstruction maps along with text detailing an era when the capital experienced key growth phases that included dockland development and Georgian building.

Published by the Royal Irish Academy in association with Dublin City Council, this atlas traces the history and development of Dublin through the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century when many of the city’s modern streets were laid out. The south eastern area of the city was drained and Merrion Square was constructed, blocking the sea view that Leinster House enjoyed.

Author Rob Goodbody brought his expertise to the project as a former senior executive planner at Dublin City Council and a historic buildings consultant to this atlas, which contains histories of over 11,000 urban sites along with the maps and views of Dublin.

The book spans seminal events in Irish history including the 1798 Rebellion, Act of Union, Catholic Emancipation, free national school education and industrialisation of the city, right up to the eve of the Famine in 1847. It has large-scale colour maps that depict the city in 1847 at two different scales, which can be compared with a modern town plan of 2012. A CD-ROM of maps and images comes with the publication. Cost €35 (or €30, if you're very quick to the following link!). It is available to buy online from the Royal Irish Academy and book shops nationwide. ISBN: 978-1-908996-34-3.

The IHTA project was established in 1981 and set out to record the topographical development of a selection of Irish towns both large and small in the wake of the Wood Quay portests of the 1970s. To date Limerick, Ennis and Belfast are among the twenty-six town atlases published.

FindMyPast adds Thom's Directory 1844-1900

Thom's Directory is a useful census-substitute for
those with Dublin ancestors

The latest bundle of goodies launched under the FindMyPast Friday banner includes a 56-year spread, from 1844–1900, of Thom's Directory, one of the most useful census-substitutes for tracing family in 19th-century Dublin.

Thom's is a street directory and almanac that lists the merchants, clergy, lawyers, gentlemen, masons, blacksmiths and more who were working and living in the capital during the edition year.

While it doesn't include details of other household members, it includes most heads of households and businesses, street by steet. The only people are excluded, as ever, are the poor and those who subsisted on a small holding without a specific trade or specialism.

This latest addition from FindMyPast consists of more than 86,000 pages. They can be searched by name (bear in mind that people often appear in twice in any one publication – once in the street listing and once in the profession listing), by year of publication, and by section of a specific edition ie the Ecclesiastical Directory, Colleges: Medicine & Surgery, Trades Directory, County Directory etc.

(See details of this weekend's free access offer from FindMyPast here.)

Ancestry adds WW1 Service Medal & Awards Books

As promised at Back To Our Past last month (see show report), Ancestry has added the
British WW1 Service Medal and Award Roll Books 1914–1920 to its database.

This collection of 6,256,145 entries contains records of people who served in WWI and were entitled to medals and awards. Most of the records relate to the Army but there are also some referring to the Royal Flying Corps/Royal Air Force (RFC/RAF), to civilians such as medical staff working in military bases, to people mobilized for other war service, e.g. in colonial labour corps, and to allied personnel who assisted British soldiers behind enemy lines.

The Roll Books give the date the issue was approved and record the issue, or cross-refer to another issuing body, e.g. the Air Ministry for some members of the RFC/RAF receiving the British War and Allied Victory Medals.

An important feature of this collection is the inclusion of the battalion's name. This may allow researchers to discover more about the military history, battles, postings and events their ancestor lived through. First port of call should be the Battalion's War Diary, if it has survived.

Records include details such as name, rank, unit, and possibly other service details.

The medals and awards concerned are:

• The British War Medal;
  
• The Allied Victory Medal;
  
• The 1914 Star (the Mons Star) and bar added in 1919;
  
• The 1914–15 Star;
  
• The Territorial Force War Medal;
  
• The Allied Subjects Medal.

You'll find more information about each of the medals and what they represent by following the link above.