News & Information

The big news this month is the availability from November 2nd of the 1939 Register.

This Register of population which was taken in September 1939 and was used to issue National Identity Cards, Ration Books and later was used when the National Health Service was introduced in 1948.    Information about How to search the 1939 Register is a helpful guide.  The disappointment is that it is being offered on a Pay for View Basis by Findmypast or free if you visit the National Archives at Kew.  Although many of us who were born before September 1939 will be entered on this register we will not be able see those entries until we are over 100 years old or dead! 

Just one year (1856) of The Weston-super-Mare Gazette and General Advertiser is now available on the British Newspaper Archives and FindmyPast.  The full run of this newspaper can be seen in the Weston Library on film so if you find something online but haven’t a subscription you can see the newspaper in the library.  It is worth checking the newspapers which have been added to the BNA.  This is just the first of several local newspapers which they have promised us.  And yes, for those of you have spotted several members of the HASE family in a slight altercation with the police in July 1856 they are from my husband’s family - I only married into this family, they’re  nothing to do with me!

One of the lost Research Queries on our site asked which  Manors were in this area. A Guide to Manorial Records is available on the National Archives site, which gives the background to these collections. The National Archives Manorial Documents Register is being updated. You don’t need to know the actual name of the Manor you can search by parish and county.  If you can locate an ancestor in these early records you can find some very valuable information

Just remember that not all parishes have surviving manorial Records- some parishes have more than one Manor, some parishes have manors with different names, some psrishes are in more than one manor. The records can be almost anywhere - TNA, Local Record offices or Archives of large estates or Universities etc.

For example if you search for the Manor situated in Kewstoke - you will find that there is only one Manor and that was called Norton Beauchamp Manor - there are nine surviving collections of documents for this manor dating from 1471-1671 but they are situated in the National Archives, Somerset Heritage Centre, Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre and surprisingly in the North Yorkshire County Record Office.

• Worle has its own Worle Manor which has 12 collections of documents dating from 1471-1848 deposited in 5 different archives 

There are 3 Manors in the Parish of Banwell –

• Banwell Manor - 72 Collections dating from 1342-1910 deposited in 12 different archives
• Woolford ‘s Hill Manor – 3 Collections dating from 1482-1718 in 3 different archives
• Rolston Manor – 45 Collections dating from 1481-1847 in 3 different archives.

Newsletters

• Keep up to date with newsletters such as the one from Lost Cousins As you would expect a lot of this one is devoted to the 1939 Register but as always it is a valuable aid to research
• Another free Newsletter comes from Genealogyintime   It can be searched for new records either by date of Country of origin.   It also has a section on Breaking Down Brick Walls.

From my Inbox

I’ve recently had a request for information about the military changes which were made to Weston during WW2 aside from the usual blackout precautions. Was the beach fenced off with barbed wire and were there other defensive precautions such as mines, anti-aircraft guns around the town?   Where was the WVS Canteen?  Was the promenade used as a parade ground for billeted forces.

You can add comments to this Update or contact me through the website if you have any information.

Society Business

The Society was represented at the Glamorgan FHS Open Day in October and has continued with its Saturday afternoon sessions at the Library.  The numbers attending with queries have been disappointing recently – does that mean that you have all finished your research?  The number of Research Queries on the site during October was only 6 which again seems to be on the low side.  Perhaps as members of the society there is something else which you would like to see the society doing? 

Our October talk by Ann-Marie Wilkinson about the photographic collection at Wells Museum and the work done by her and Steve to digitalise and index the collection to make them available for research was fascinating and thought provoking.   You never know where images may be stored but the work done by volunteers to make them available  is increasing so it worth returning to Archives from time to time to see what has been added.

We are looking for an Assistant Secretary - if anyone is interested or can recommend someone please let one of the committee know.

November Meeting

The additional AGM to bring the financial end of year to a more manageable date will be at the start of the November meeting but the rest of the time will be a normal members’ evening and we ask you to bring in some family heirlooms which have added something to your family history.  There will be seasonable refreshments!