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Topics - Top-of-the-hill

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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.

Armed Forces / Admiral's Cox'n

« on: Thursday 13 October 22 20:13 BST (UK) »

My great grandfather ended his career as admiral's cox,n in 1874, and I understood that the job was mainly to do with looking after and sailing the admiral's official vessel.
I heard a story yesterday of a man who held the same post in the early years of WW2, and according to his daughter, telling the story, it also seemed to involve being something like a batman. Was this something that changed over the years or can I assume that gr-grandad's work was similar?

Technical Help / Hotmail

« on: Tuesday 30 August 22 12:20 BST (UK) »

Hotmail/Outlook has started presenting me with suggested replies to emails I have received. Is there any way to stop this; I have sent feedback. I find it quite creepy!

The Common Room / Newspaper reports 19th century

« on: Saturday 13 August 22 15:04 BST (UK) »

I have just been reading, or rather skimming, a report from 1834 of a County meeting on the subject of tithe commutation. The text is pretty dense and speeches are reported apparently word for word. My query is, did reporters use some form of shorthand then?

Free Photo Restoration & Date Old Photographs / For dating please

« on: Sunday 31 July 22 10:16 BST (UK) »

This picture is one of several I have with family members included. The ones taken 1900 or just before are by G Pearson of Hastings, the slightly later ones have no name on the mounts. This one has the Pearson name, but appears not to be on its original mount. I don't know who these men are, but as we have the picture, one of them may be family. I am guessing this is also very early 1900s, but would welcome some expert comment; I am especially intrigued by the hats they are wearing, as all the other pictures have the men in caps. (All carpenter's yards rather than field work.)
I do have a better picture, but thought I should show the mount.

The Common Room / 1939 register queries

« on: Tuesday 24 May 22 16:28 BST (UK) »

I have 2 questions about the attached clip. First, is there another version where the black strips are differently positioned? You will see that they are crooked and covering Harry's occupation . I am pretty sure it says "colliery", but no more is visible. Under the second black strip, I think it says Pearson, Dorman Long, who I think owned the colliery. So who is lurking under there?
Secondly, why are the next 2 lines blacked out anyway, note the numbering. Edith is Harry's wife and they married in 1937. There are several entries like this in this register.
The letter code is DJBC.

Armed Forces / Coastguards

« on: Tuesday 17 May 22 16:26 BST (UK) »

I have three men in my extended family tree who were in various versions of the coastguard. The first, born in Dover and posted to Norfolk, was listed in his children's baptisms (1823 - 1834) as Preventive Service. At that date, I imagine the problem was still smuggling? (James Sneller)

John Pay joined the R.N. in 1842, but in 1856 joined the Coastguard, which seems to have been part of his R.N. service. He was posted for several years to Northumberland, Craster area.

William Pay, R.N.1853-74. Between 1863 and 1869 he was on Coastguard service on the Humber with Cornwallis and Dauntless.

I am puzzled as to what the Royal Navy Coastguard was doing around the North East coast at that time?

The Common Room / Error corrections

« on: Tuesday 26 April 22 22:44 BST (UK) »

Much to my surprise I have just had an email from FindMyPast about an error correction. I have a long file of these, most of which do not get corrected and are never replied to. (I don't really expect replies.) So why this one?
"After looking at your reported errors, we decided not to make any changes at this time. This is because we concluded that the transcript matches the original census."
I shall attempt to reply, because I really don't agree. What do others think?

Ancestral Family Tree DNA Testing / Ancestry DNA

« on: Monday 25 April 22 22:27 BST (UK) »

I noticed that the ethnicity estimates have been altered, not sure when, and I appear to have acquired 3% of Welsh, where from I can't imagine.

And I know we don't have to take it too seriously!

However, they have also divided the DNA between parents, which has left me really baffled. The bit of Scottish has come from one parent, my father, which I understand, but the similar amount of Irish and the little bit of Welsh are from the other parent, and that makes no sense to me at all. There is a known bit of Irish in father's ancestry, and a missing line through illegitimacy, but mother is solidly Kent on one side and Essex/Suffolk on the other.

Any ideas on this please?