I have been searching on Find My Past using their search of military records to see when i could find when Richard Genner died as previous searching has indicated he probably died between 1854 and 1861. However i couldn't find any record of him (or any Genner at all apart from Sarah Genner's baptism for which i already have a copy of the certificate).
Of course he may not have died in service but left the Army and died afterwards. No marriage records came up either. I searched on Jenner too but also no joy.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Bus Museum Collectors Fair
The Aston Manor Transport Museum had another event yesterday, mostly it was a collectors fair for enthusiasts but also there was some bus running. I didn't have time to take a ride unfortunately, just missing the Bristol VR and my wife wasn't keen in standing in the cold for half an hour just to wait for a bus for some reason. I bought a book on the trams of Birmingham incidentally. They used to run past on the road i now live on. I remember when they dug up the High St in Erdington one could see the tram lines which had been tarmacked over back in the early 1950s. It is funny how now cities are bringing the trams back.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Google aim to digitize newspaper archives
Google are aiming to digitize every amount of information out there and make it searchable it seems (maybe one day even the notebooks my Mum has kept from the 1970s detailing how much food cost then). The latest step is to digitize the archives of newspapers which is truly going to be a massive task. There are already some of these archives available such as the Times Digital Archive which i find very fascinating. Though i'd really love to see some local newspapers such as the (Birmingham) Evening Mail and Sutton Coldfield News archives, i suspect these might not be in the Google search for a few years...
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Fire! Murder! Revenge!
Having access to various online newspaper archives i have been trying to see if any of my ancestors have appeared in print, for example if Richard Genner loss in combat was listed. So far i haven't found anything like that but i did find a rather interesting story involving a "Richard Genner" back in 1811. I don't think he is a relation, though you never know. My Grandmother always said she was related to Dr Jenner of smallpox fame.
In the "Hull Packet and Original Weekly Commercial, Literary and General Advertiser" is a story entitled "Extraordinary Case" and it recounts the news that the sons of the respected farmer Richard Genner of Mayersfield, Sussex found a letter in the road addressed to their father. The letter was titled "Fire! Murder! and Revenge!" and threatened to destroy the parson's and churchwarden's homes and the farms of the area. The sons said they saw the letter being dropped by the Reverend Bingham after he had given a service in the parish and was on horseback to another.
We then read that Bingham's home caught fire and that he blamed the foresters for it. However investigators found his explanation of intruders suspicious and placed some men nearby to keep a watch on Bingham and in doing so they found he had a hidden room at his home where all his papers and other valuables were being kept safe. Bingham was committed to trial for fraud. A later newspaper article reports that he was also indited with writing the threatening letter to Jenner.
Sounds like an ideal plot for a BBC period piece to me.
In the "Hull Packet and Original Weekly Commercial, Literary and General Advertiser" is a story entitled "Extraordinary Case" and it recounts the news that the sons of the respected farmer Richard Genner of Mayersfield, Sussex found a letter in the road addressed to their father. The letter was titled "Fire! Murder! and Revenge!" and threatened to destroy the parson's and churchwarden's homes and the farms of the area. The sons said they saw the letter being dropped by the Reverend Bingham after he had given a service in the parish and was on horseback to another.
We then read that Bingham's home caught fire and that he blamed the foresters for it. However investigators found his explanation of intruders suspicious and placed some men nearby to keep a watch on Bingham and in doing so they found he had a hidden room at his home where all his papers and other valuables were being kept safe. Bingham was committed to trial for fraud. A later newspaper article reports that he was also indited with writing the threatening letter to Jenner.
Sounds like an ideal plot for a BBC period piece to me.
Viewing Ancient Rome in Google Earth
You can now view Ancient Rome using Google Earth, or rather a virtual representation. 320CE was a little too early for photography, satellites and banks of servers. This, however, makes me think that it would be rather cool to be able to view an area in GE (or elsewhere) as it changed over time, maybe by adjusting a slider. Of course the amount of imagery you would require would be vast.
One could see how a site (such as the university) had changed over time. Such as from this...
To this...
...and to this.
One could see how a site (such as the university) had changed over time. Such as from this...
To this...
...and to this.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Tracking down Richard Genner's demise
As i have already found out in my ancestry research my great-great-great-great grandfather (is that the right number of greats?!) Richard Genner was a private in the 84th Infantry regiment in the middle part of the 19th century, serving in India. This i discovered from the baptism certificate of Sarah Ann Genner dated 1854. However his wife, Mary, appears in the 1861 census living in Stroud and married to someone else. So we can assume Richard died sometime between 1854 and 1861. (Divorce was an option but was pretty unlikely for the time and the people involved.)
The 84th Foot was involved in the Bengal rebellion in India in 1857 which i have been tracking using online archived editions of the Times newspaper. A 14th July 1857 news snippet for example mentions part of the regiment going to the fort at Cawnpore. This was later the scene of a siege and massacre at the hands of Nana Sahib. Of course it doesn't mean Richard was involved in this battle as only part of the regiment was deployed there. Although some casualty lists are given in the Times so far i have been unable to find his name, the lists tend to concentrate on officers anyway and Richard was only a private! There has been a book published on the history of the regiment so perhaps that may give some more information. I am continuing the investigation anyway, i suspect this will be a long-term project.
Although i am interested in the circumstances of Richard's demise i am more interested in where he came from and Mary Genner's origins too. On the census she listed her birthplace as "Madras" so perhaps she was the daughter of Europeans in India, maybe her father was a soldier too. Finding out where Richard came from would be very interesting. His regiment (York & Lancaster) indicates he could be from the North.
The 84th Foot was involved in the Bengal rebellion in India in 1857 which i have been tracking using online archived editions of the Times newspaper. A 14th July 1857 news snippet for example mentions part of the regiment going to the fort at Cawnpore. This was later the scene of a siege and massacre at the hands of Nana Sahib. Of course it doesn't mean Richard was involved in this battle as only part of the regiment was deployed there. Although some casualty lists are given in the Times so far i have been unable to find his name, the lists tend to concentrate on officers anyway and Richard was only a private! There has been a book published on the history of the regiment so perhaps that may give some more information. I am continuing the investigation anyway, i suspect this will be a long-term project.
Although i am interested in the circumstances of Richard's demise i am more interested in where he came from and Mary Genner's origins too. On the census she listed her birthplace as "Madras" so perhaps she was the daughter of Europeans in India, maybe her father was a soldier too. Finding out where Richard came from would be very interesting. His regiment (York & Lancaster) indicates he could be from the North.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Relatives i never knew
Some photos have come into my possession (along with some copies of certificates and documents) of a relative of mine (well that is not 100% certain but it is fairly safe to guess that they are as the photos were together with one of my great-grand mother). The problem is, no one knows who they are. Well no one i can ask know anyway. The photos are pre-WW2 i would have said and i suspect could be taken in the 1920s perhaps or even earlier. Of course if you can identify the people let me know.
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