The " TIMES" to-day reports that the first phase of Gazettes-Online will be launched this month. The Stationery Office is working to place the London Gazette, the Edinburgh Gazette, and the Belfast Gazette online. These are official publications, "Published by Authority" which list all sorts of Official notices, including awards of medals and decorations, appointments, obituaries, bankruptcy notices etc, etc, dating back to1665. The first release covers the two world wars and 20th Century honours and awards. The next phase will include the rest of the 20th Century editions. In total the London Gazette consists of 56,000 editions [two million pages], and the article in the Times says that the site will have a search facility so that family historians will be able to check awards of gallantry medals, promotion of officers, changes of name, or naturalisation of an ancestor simply by typing in a surname. The site is www.gazettes-online.co.uk but do not all rush, it might turn out to be like the 1901 census!! Chris and Caroline --- All of our Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. And attachments are also scanned before being added. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.445 / Virus Database: 250 - Release Date: 21/01/2003

The Gazettes Online site has been operating for a few months. This is an extract from an article that I sent to a family history society journal in November last year: > The London Gazette, the Belfast Gazette, and the Edinburgh Gazette are searchable on-line at www.gazettes-online.co.uk. Choose the required publication, then click on "Archive" without selecting an option from the drop-down menu. The Gazette records military appointments and medals, and can be searched for specified date ranges between 1900 and 1997. There is a separate search option for entries since 1997. Searching is conducted using optical character recognition. In most cases this is accurate, but Gurney has been found as Giirney, and Smith as Sniith, so use your imagination. < Alan McGowan ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris & Caroline" <chris@chayles.freeserve.co.uk> To: <HAMPSHIRE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, January 31, 2003 1:48 AM Subject: [Ham] The Gazette on line The " TIMES" to-day reports that the first phase of Gazettes-Online will be launched this month. The Stationery Office is working to place the London Gazette, the Edinburgh Gazette, and the Belfast Gazette online. These are official publications, "Published by Authority" which list all sorts of Official notices, including awards of medals and decorations, appointments, obituaries, bankruptcy notices etc, etc, dating back to1665. The first release covers the two world wars and 20th Century honours and awards. The next phase will include the rest of the 20th Century editions. In total the London Gazette consists of 56,000 editions [two million pages], and the article in the Times says that the site will have a search facility so that family historians will be able to check awards of gallantry medals, promotion of officers, changes of name, or naturalisation of an ancestor simply by typing in a surname. The site is www.gazettes-online.co.uk but do not all rush, it might turn out to be like the 1901 census!! Chris and Caroline