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Topics - Top-of-the-hill

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28
Armed Forces / Victorian warship 1854
« on: Tuesday 03 January 23 13:05 GMT (UK)  »
   I am trying to write up a family story, and find that the things I don't know are many! Below is part of a plan of the lower deck of a ship. Am I right in assuming that the oblong objects are fixed tables where the men would have eaten? And that hammocks were slung above them at night? Or at other times for men on night watches? I do try and look things up, and I have gathered that the same groups of men ate together - a mess? A word which is familiar of course, but never needed to be explained before. The names are only those who were stricken with a mystery illness.

29
The Common Room / Payment in dollars 1854
« on: Monday 02 January 23 22:31 GMT (UK)  »
   When my great grandfather was a young R.N.sailor, his captain was involved in some official business with the Sultan of Muscat involving the transfer to Britain of the Kuria Muria Islands (a few specks of rock!) The men who were left in charge of the flagpole were paid 9 dollars per annum. I wondered why dollars?

30
The Lighter Side / Dialects
« on: Friday 23 December 22 16:45 GMT (UK)  »
  There was a link on the Lost Cousins newsletter to a British Library collection of recordings made of POWs in Germany in WW1. It includes 2 recordings of Kentish men and was very interesting to me. They were both from West Kent, much the same age as my grandfather, but with much stronger accents.
   I was particularly interested in something said to be Kent dialect, but which seemed to be well gone by my time - pronunciation of "th" as "d". Also mixing "v" and "w", which there was still a ghost of in my grandfather.
   I recommend a listen.  Berliner Lautarchiv British & Commonwealth recordings

31
Armed Forces / Royal Navy dress (ratings) before 1857
« on: Saturday 10 December 22 13:26 GMT (UK)  »
   I have gathered from various websites that before 1857, ratings wore "slops", ready made clothing supplied by contractors. My ancestor joined in 1853 and spent the next 3 years in Australia and the tropics. Is there any way of finding out what these slops would have looked like?

32
Scotland / Scottish censuses
« on: Tuesday 29 November 22 13:22 GMT (UK)  »
   I want to do some checking in the earlier Scottish censuses, but am unsure whether the originals are available to view? I am registered with Scotland's People.

33
The Common Room / 1861 census transcription
« on: Saturday 26 November 22 22:12 GMT (UK)  »
   I found an entry for Ambrose Pay in an asylum in Yorkshire, and as I am suspicious of any Pays north of London, I did some checking. I am pretty sure he appears in 1851 as Ambrose Gray. Below are the 1851 entry for him and an entry from a previous page for comparison. Is there any point in me sending in an error correction?

34
World War One / Another P.O.W.
« on: Thursday 17 November 22 17:17 GMT (UK)  »
  Not wanting to hi-jack Paul's thread, I have started another.
  I have had a quick look at The Red Cross site, but can't see my relative Ernest Pay listed. I do already know quite a lot about his time as a P.O.W., so if he is anywhere on that site, will it tell me any more than basic information? He was in a Canadian regiment.

35
World War One / Soldier conscripted in 1916
« on: Sunday 13 November 22 19:52 GMT (UK)  »
   Hearing this morning about a WW1 installation at Folkestone, I started thinking again about my grandfather's service. There is absolutely nothing of his war record left, but I am wondering about more general things. He lived in a small village between Dover and Canterbury; when he was called up, where would he have gone for the formalities, kitting out, training etc?
   We hear about the thousands of soldiers arriving by train at Folkestone for embarkation to France, but what about the men who already lived in the area?
   He was aged 32, married with small children, and joined the Army Service Corps, Motor Transport.


36
Armed Forces / Village roll of honour WW1
« on: Monday 07 November 22 21:19 GMT (UK)  »
  I have been looking again at the roll of honour for my home village, and trying to work out what some of the regimental abbreviations mean. I am guessing R.M. is Royal Marines; R.W.S. is Royal West Surrey?; and R.D.C. is Royal Defence Corps.
  5 men out of 22 were R.F.A. Royal Field Artillery? and one was S.R. which has me stumped.
 One of the RFA men seems to have actually been in the Royal Garrison Artillery, was this part of the same outfit?
  I haven't had a great deal of success so far finding them on FindMyPast.
  This is a list of those who returned, not a memorial, and includes one woman, the rector's daughter who was a nurse.

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