This coffee chat meets on a rotation basis on Thursday nights from 7:00pm to 9:00pm. Watch the local events calendar for dates and times. People meet online by Zoom to chat about their successes and frustrations. Sharing your experiences might help someone else in the group.

To register or for more information, contact: coffeechat@bcgs.ca

Facilitator: Sandra Cunliffe

Tips and Places to Go when Researching in London, England
Written by Donna Fraser

My most important tip for any research trip is to check all the websites for their opening hours and their online catalogue for their records. You may well need your passport and another piece of ID to research there. Most are free but specialty archives and libraries may charge a small fee. I have listed below a few of the places that I feel are important when doing research in London, England.

London Metropolitan Archives
LMA's records relate mainly to London and include Board of Guardians (Workhouse, etc.) records, parish registers, electoral registers, school, hospital and some prison records, to name a few. Also Middlesex Sessions of the Peace Records 1549-1971, records of the Middlesex side of the Goal Delivery of Newgate in the Old Bailey (1549-1834), and Westminster Session Records (1620-1844) and more than 350,000 photographs. Many businesses have deposited their records here, including a number of brewery companies. Ancestry has many of the more popular records housed at the London Metropolitan Archives so you will be looking for records that are not yet in Ancestry's London Metropolitan Archives collection. I searched Ancestry's catalogue using "London Metropolitan Archives" to find the list that they have. Note: Not far away is the Guildhall Library (see below).

City of Westminster Archives
The City of Westminster's records cover a large area of central London from Marylebone and Paddington in the north, to Pimlico in the south, to Hyde Park and Knightsbridge in the west and Covent Garden in the east. Areas included are Bayswater, Queen's Park, St. John's Wood, Maida Vale, Belgravia, Mayfair, St. James' and Soho. The archive holds parish registers, directories, wills, business records, estate records, newspapers and periodicals, and rate books to name a few. It isn't easy to find so perhaps a taxi is in order. That's always worked for me when I don't want to waste time finding smaller and hidden archives.

The National Archives at Kew
This is a bit of a hike from the train station at Kew Gardens but well worth visiting if only to see what a large archives looks like and how it works. You will be overwhelmed or at least I was on my first visit. There is also a cafeteria, coffee bar and bookstore. You definitely need ID to get your Reader's Ticket and you will need to put your coat and things in a locker - I needed a one Pound coin to use the lock last time I was there. You will have the opportunity to go on an introductory tour which is worthwhile because you learn how to order documents. You can only take a pencil and a notebook and not much else into the research areas. Study their Discovery catalogue and take whatever opportunities you can find to learn the tricks to using their catalogue and website. Their research guides are amazing. Their catalogue will also tell you if the item is at another archives so very helpful in planning your trip to the other London libraries and archives. They have staff who are prepared to answer your questions. Last time I was there you waited your turn to get that chance and sometimes you get your answer from the person who wrote the research guide on the subject. There is a library section that you can browse as well. I definitely recommend that you plan a trip to TNA at Kew and if you can, for more than one day.

The Guildhall Library
Last time I was there the main reading room was filled with large tables and walls were lined with shelves full of interesting books. It's peaceful and quiet. The original library was founded in the 1400s and is now a major public reference library which specialises in the history of London. The printed books collection includes items on local and family history, the English law, some parliamentary material, business history and marine history. There was a large collection of trade and telephone directories for the whole of the British Isles for the past 200 years. It is a beautiful facility and well worth a visit if for no other reason than to see a beautiful old library. As mentioned above, it isn't far from the London Metropolitan Archives (a short taxi ride away if you aren't confident in finding it when walking).

The Society of Genealogists is moving so right now everything is in boxes. You will need to check their website to find out when they are open.

Other thoughts are:

The British Library - a reference library only with lots of restrictions. Bring your ID and be prepared to tell them what it is you are looking for (after having already searched their online catalogue). I found my time wasn't as well used at this library as some of the local archives but they just might have the book you couldn't find anywhere else and that is a distinct possibility.

Imperial War Museum has a collection of records and personal letters from 1914 onwards, regimental and campaign histories, etc. in their reading room. Check their website as you might need to have an appointment. This also is an amazing building with interesting displays. (Unfortunately, their website is currently unavailable.)

Huguenot Society if you are tracing French immigrant forebears. Might be by appointment only.

Library of the Religious Society of Friends if you have Quaker ancestors.

The secret is to have a well planned itinerary that highlights the records that you cannot now find online from home. Organize your itinerary by location and try not to do too much in one day.

NOTE: The BCGS Library and Research Centre has the book London's Local History : Catalogue of Resources in Greater London by Peter Marcan
Call No. 942.1 MAR

Essential Genealogy Links

General Register Office Search historical birth and death indexes and order copies of registrations 

Genuki Guide to genealogy resources for the UK and Ireland

Genuki Gazetteer Find the location of specific places, view online maps, and discover any genealogical resources which are available
Genuki Church database Search to find the location of churches throughout the UK and Ireland and discover what resources are available

FamilySearch UK Genealogy Wiki Free guide to UK genealogy, including links to databases, websites, andother resources,

Hugh Wallis Genealogical Web Site

FreeReg Free indexes from UK parish and non-conformist registers

FreeCen Free indexes of UK censuses

Deceased Online The central database for UK burials and cremations

Bringham Young University - Early British Census

Church Monuments Society

The National Archives of the UK (TNA)

The British Newspaper Archive

UK Press Online

UK Lookup Exchange Volunteers will do lookups in their own books

UK Locator Sites

British Telecom Find a person in the telephone book

Royal Mail  

Find An Old Friend

Libraries and Archives for Special Topics

The British Library

Families in British India Society (FIBIS)

Pub History Society

National Railway Museum - Family History

Romany and Traveller Family History Society

British Workhouses

British History

The British Monarchy

British History Online

UK Military History

Imperial War Museums

IWM War Memorials Register UK inventory of war memorials

Lives of the First World War An IWM project that recorded millions of stories of individuals who served in uniform and worked on the home front. 

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The Dreadnought Project Naval history wiki focusing on naval history in the period 1880-1920

The Army Children Archive Chronicling British army children’s histories

Religious Archives

Missionary collections, SOAS (School of African Studies)

Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540-1835 (CCEd) Searchable records of clerical careers from over 50 archives in England and Wales 

Tracing Anglican Clergy (History House)

Church of England, Libraries and Archives

Church of England, Parish Locator A tool to locate current parish churches

Methodist British Heritage

My Primitive Methodist Ancestors

Methodist Archives and Research Centre

Quaker Family History Society

The Library of the Society of Friends

Catholic Family History Society

Unitarian Historical Society

Eyam Village, Derbyshire
& the Plague of 1665

The current COVID-19 crisis is reminding me of something that our ancestors went through 355 years ago. The National Archives, England has documented a John Iboteson living in the Yorkshire/Derbyshire area of England as far back as 1370. I have documented our direct line of Ibbotsons living in Bradfield, Yorkshire as far back as 1520. This is just 15 miles from the village of Eyam, Derbyshire. This village is also known as “the village of the damned” or the “the village of the last historic plague”.

In 1665 the bubonic plague was sent from London in a flea-infested bundle of cloth to a tailor in Eyam Village, Derbyshire. Within a week, the villagers knew that the sickness had come and looked to the rector, Reverend William Mompesson, and the ejected Puritan minister, Thomas Stanley, for guidance and direction. They introduced several measures to contain the plaque that led to the village quarantining itself to prevent spreading of the disease outside of their boundary.

Wikipedia reports that “the plague ran its course over 14 months and one account states that it killed at least 260 villagers, with only 83 surviving out of a population of 350. That figure has been challenged on a few occasions, with alternative figures of 430 survivors from a population of around 800 being given. The church in Eyam has a record of 273 individuals who were victims of the plague.

Survival among those affected appeared random, as many who remained alive had had close contact with those who died but never caught the disease. Science, since then, has proven that a lot of the survivors had a chromosome which gave them protection.  This same chromosome still exists in some of the direct descendants of those who survived the plague.  One of the more famous survivors is Elizabeth Hancock.  She did not get infected despite burying six children and her husband in eight days. The graves are known as the Riley graves after the farm where they lived. The unofficial village gravedigger, Marshall Howe, also survived, despite handling many infected bodies.

The village’s actions prevented the disease from moving into surrounding areas. The villagers placed a ring of rocks around the village to stop outsiders from coming closer. When the outsiders became aware of the situation, they began leaving food for the villagers in some of the many caves that the Peak District is famous for.  An article on the Eyam website about underground Eyam remarks “by digging out blockages, cavers can still walk into passages and chambers which have never been entered.”  The village’s action today is known as self-isolation.  

In 1720 Joseph Ibbotson and his wife Ruth Sympson lived in Hathersage, Derbyshire, just 2.6 miles from Eyam. I do not know who their parents were but it is probable, since people did not move around much in those times, that their parents and grandparents were around during the plague. Perhaps they were involved in leaving the food for the villagers in the caves. I find myself feeling quite proud of the place our ancestors played in this historic tale. It makes it easier for me to live through this COVID-19 crisis. 

Note:  A list of the people who died during the plague can be accessed by the button below. Some of the surnames that I recognize as ancestors are Frith, Morten, Wilson, Mellor and Darby.

 Written by Ann Ibbotson Buchanan