Finding People

One of the joys of being an Archivist is the many requests for information about past Epsomians. Just this morning I replied to a request for information about Sir Pendril Varrier Jones, founder of the Papworth Village Settlement and therefore of Papworth Hospital, Cambridge. These requests often require a hunt through the records and photographs to make sense of what we have and it is satisfying to be able to do this. However, other requests involve much deeper research, and recourse often has to be made to public databases and newspaper archives. A very good start can be made by refering to the National Newspaper Library at Colindale. This is part of the British Library and has lately established an excellent internet facility: http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ where for a small fee you can download newspaper pages. The search facility is so thorough that it is easy to generate thousands of 'hits', so be careful to define your enquiry closely. I was also interested to find out that, through membership of my local library (Surrey) I could gain free access to the remarkable 'Ancestry' database, which is so widely advertised. This includes access to Birth, Death and Marriage certificates and huge numbers of other references to family history resources. You can buy personal membership at http://www.ancestry.co.uk/ . I find this rather a large and diffuse archive of documents for which it is difficult to narrow the search effectively enough to save time. Therefore I prefer the facility offered by S&N Genealogy Supplies of Salisbury, who offer a competitive service with their Diamond deal. This gives complete access to Census, Birth Death Marriage, Roll of Honour, Landowner, Parish, Non-Conformist, Military, Electoral, School, College, Will, Newspaper etc. records at £119.45 per year. The advantage being that one can access everything from home or office, paying just once. At present there is an offer at: http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/14day/ which gives a 14 day trial.

So, for those of you out there with a wish to find out who you are, this seems to be the way forward. Happy researching over Christmas!