My visit to London......

[*sara*]

Hi,

I am making the big step of travelling to london to help my research.

Could anyone give me any advice?  I don't know whether i need to go to the FRC or another place and i don't know which are open???  Are they hard to use on the first visit?

what i want to find......
 - my gg grandfather was in the met police, would like to find records.

 - my grandmother was in QAIMNS, is WW2 too recent?

 - g grandfather served in WW1, would i find records?  i have his pension record.

 i am sure there were other things but can't remember off hand, also i want to find addresses of ancestors and visit the police orphanage museum.  I am really excitied about this trip and need to make the most of my time there.  6 weeks away yet!

any advice would be appreciated
sara

[Mean_genie]

Sara

The FRC will be closing in 6 weeks, so you may be too late for that anyway! But since you want to look up Metropolitan Police and military records you would need to go to The National Archives at Kew for those.

There is a lot to take in at Kew, and some people can find it a bit overwhelming at the first visit, but you can do some homework in advance by getting to know and love the website and the online Catalogue  before you get there.

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

From the homepage, follow the link 'visit us' to get the basics about opening hours, readers' tickets, how to get there etc. The other really useful links are the dropdown menus 'Research, Education and Online Exhibitions' which you can use to get to a list of nearly 300 research guides, and 'Search the Archives' that takes you to the Catalogue. If you are new to research you should look at 'Starting Your Research' also on the 'Research...etc' dropdown menu.

As you will also see from the website, there are a lot of alterations going on at the moment, and the seating capacity is reduced, but provided you get there early in the day you should be fine. You will need to have a Reader's Ticket if you want to look at original documents, but you can pre-register online, or wait until you get there. Just make sure you have the right ID with you when you go. There are plenty of staff to help you.

There are other places that you may want to visit, such as the Probate Registry, but it depends on where you ancestors came from, and their occupations. Since you are interested in the Met Police, I assume you have some London ancestry, so you will probably want to visit the London Metropolitan Archives, who hold records for MOST of what is now Greater London. www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/leisure_heritage/libraries_archives_museums_galleries/lma/lma.htm

I hope you enjoy your visit, and have a successful time with your research. I'm off to Edinburgh and Glasgow next week on my annual research trip to do my own family history, which I always look forward to for weeks ahead.

Mean_genie

[g a r]

Hi *sara*

visit the police orphanage museum

before you go, definitely contact the police orphanage museum.

I had occasion to enquire about an ancestor who was assisted by the orphanage recently and the excellent staff there not only provided details of my relative's time at the orphanage, they also went the extra mile by providing background material, which  put my ancestor's experience into context. They do ask for a donation - but you could spend double elsewhere and not even get half.

cheers,
g a r

check their website here [url[http://www.met-cityorphans.org.uk/history.php/url]

[lizb]

If your ancestors lived in Middlesex or the City of London consider The Metropolitan Archives and the Guildhall library.
These are the equivalent of the local records offices elsewhere, but they hold a lot of additional information to do with specific occupations and the staff are very helpful.
Both have websites.

When you are looking at the National Archives website beforehand - have a look at the section for documents provided online. If you order these from home you have to pay a fee. If you access at Kew you just have to pay the printing cost. This can save a lot of money if you want copies of wills and service records.

[*sara*]

Thank you all for your kind advice, I am not new to research as such, but have only ever been to my local archives twice, the rest I am embarrassed to say is from the comport of my sofa!!


I have contacted the museum and have been emailed back within 24hr (good service! )

I think I will need to go armed with a list of things I want to find and check out the websites before hand to find as much detail as I can about where i need to find them. 

I am looking forward to it but also think it is rather daunting, lucking i am dragging my husband along to help me in my quest.

Thanks again
sara

[lizb]

Another thought

On National Archive website they have lots of useful information bulletins telling you what do do on specific topics - eg World war one ancestors - this will tell you wehere to look in their catalogues. THey also have copies at the archives but you can do a bit of homework on these beforehand which saves precious research time.

[*sara*]

The time has arrived - i am travelling to london tomorrow and I am feeling terrified of going to TNA

I have no idea what to do when i get there and how to find the things i want - thats if i even know what i want.

i don't want my visit to london to be wasted, 

[lizb]

Good luck
I am sure you will find it easier than you expecrt and enjoy it.
There is a lot of help available there.
Don't forget to take suitable identification so you can register for readers pass.
If you do that first they will advise you where to go next

[avm228]

The time has arrived - i am travelling to london tomorrow and I am feeling terrified of going to TNA

You probably know this - but they are closed tomorrow (Easter Monday).

Hope you have a successful trip to London

Anna