Hi folks, Chelsea Pensioner records are records of UK soldier pensioned out after service. In Ireland many Irish were serviced through Kilmainham. Records for both have long been microfilmed and in LDS. They were not easy to use due to poor and non-existent indexing. They were the subject of advanced lectures at genealogy conferences and due to the difficulty of access, few of us ever used them. However that is changing. Findmypast is indexing the Chelsea pensioner records. I know a project is underway elsewhere to do Kilmainham. See here for search strategy: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bifhsusa/resgeneral.html You may say that your direct line didn't serve, but brothers and cousins DID, and from their records you can learn more about your family, such as the names of the parents and where they were born. So I'm sending on a text only version of the newsletter. If it seems confusing, visit the site. The WO designation is 'War Office' (Unless they changed that too on me <grin>) -- a division of the British archives at Kew Garden (unless they moved it on me). The early stuff is often NOT in the WO archives but scattered through state papers...but that's another email.... Linda Merle ----- Forwarded Message ----- From: "findmypast.co.uk" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, May 28, 2010 4:44:40 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: 100,000 more Chelsea Pensioner records plus competition findmypast.co.uk May newsletter Welcome to May's newsletter. This month we've added 97,515 new Chelsea Pensioner records and the Royal Marine Medal Roll 1914-1920 to the site - read more details below. You can also read about our amazing discovery of suffragette Emily Davison hiding in Parliament's crypt in the 1911 census , as well as information about online heritage publication Discover My Past , our new partnership with the British Library , this month's Ask the Expert , your experiences and May's Chelsea Pensioner-themed competition . Chelsea Pensioner British Army Service Records Nearly 100,000 new Chelsea Pensioners British Army Service Records 18731882 now on the site You can now search 97,515 records of men who were pensioned out of the British Army between 1873 and 1882 at findmypast.co.uk. We're working in association with The National Archives on this ongoing project. Here is a breakdown of the records you can find on the site and which are still to come: Date range Approx no. of records Approx no. of images When available WO97 1873-1882 97,515 540,423 Now WO97 1883-1900 312,909 2,218,606 Now WO97 1855-1872 65,000 400,000 By June 2010 WO97 1760-1854 184,000 1.2 million By July 2010 WO97 1901-1913 303,000 2.1 million By August 2010 WO96 1806-1915 500,000 3.5 million By Sept 2011 Many other military records provide information about officer-class soldiers; however, these records relate to other ranks. This makes it more likely that you will be able to find details about your ancestors. The connection with 'Chelsea Pensioners' is that the pensions were administered through The Royal Hospital at Chelsea. The great majority of pensioned soldiers were out-pensioners and did not reside at the Hospital itself. Remember that these records are free to search , like all the records on findmypast.co.uk. Even if you don't think you have a Chelsea Pensioner ancestor, give searching the records a go - your ancestor may have only served in the army for a short time before they were pensioned out. Read more information about these records on our knowledge base page . Chelsea Pensioner success stories Many of you have let us know how the Chelsea Pensioner records have helped you find your ancestors. We're thrilled that these records have helped so many of you with your family trees. If you've never searched these records before, take a look at how they've helped these people with their family history research: >From Ken Hines in Lincolnshire : 'I write to say what a fantastic new resource is available in the Chelsea Pensioners records that have just been released. As part of one named study I have made a detailed study of 55 sets of these records. There is so much more than pure military history.' >From Brian Sarsfield in County Wexford, Ireland : 'I got your newsletter telling me that Chelsea Pensioners British Army Service Records were now available. Having sought for years, without success, a maternal g.g.father missing from the 1881 census, I had finally found a clue on a birth cert that said he was a soldier in 1877. That was over 8 years ago and I hadn't been able to find his service record. A friend even did a search at Kew for me without success. Until today! I used findmypast's new Chelsea Pensioners database and after a fruitless search with his real age, widened the age span and bingo! There he was, with all of 11 (!) pages of his life from 1876 to 1988.' >From Rosemary Shardlow in Paraparaumu, New Zealand : 'My father, born in London in 1900, was sent to the Duke of York's RM School at Dover when he was 11 years old, never to return home to live. At 17 he was transferred as a regular soldier into the Royal Artillery at Woolwich Arsenal. Several years later he transferred into the Royal Corps of Signals, serving in India among many other places, and was mentioned in despatches during his term in Italy. My father had known that his own father was in the Black Watch Regiment and was wounded at Magersfontein. What he must surely not have known is that his father, William Henry Inglis, first enlisted into the Royal Berkshire Regiment at the age of 18 but after two years and 74 days purchased his discharge. It was in 1890 that he re-enlisted into the Highland Light Infantry/Black Watch, also serving in India before becoming involved in the Boer War. This is such a valuable piece of family history to pass down to my descendants. Without the help of the new Chelsea Pensioners listing, we would never have known this. My thanks go to all those involved with this project at findmypast.' We'd love to hear more of your success stories for Chelsea Pensioners and our other records. Post your story on our Facebook page or email it to [email protected] . Start searching for your Chelsea Pensioner ancestors now. Look out for Chelsea Pensioners records for 1855-1872 coming soon to findmypast.co.uk. The Royal Marine Medal Roll 1914-1920 is now on findmypast.co.uk You can now find the complete World War I Campaign Medal Rolls for the Royal Marines on findmypast.co.uk. The database contains the names of over 75,000 Royal Marine Officers, NCOs and other ranks, and provides a complete listing of all Royal Marines who served in WW1. Added to the transcripts of these records are service details for a large number of men, particularly those killed in action or died of wounds during WW1 and in many cases post-war deaths and WW2 deaths are noted. The medals covered by the rolls are: the 1914 Star, the Clasp to the 1914 Star, the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. Our Royal Marine Medal Roll knowledge base page provides fascinating, detailed information about these records. Astonishing 1911 census find - Emily Davison in Parliament's crypt After months of searching we've finally found an astonishing historical document in the 1911 census . Emily Davison , the suffragette who was to die in 1913 after throwing herself in front of the King's horse at the Epsom derby, is famously said to have secreted herself in the House of Commons at the time of the 1911 census to have herself enumerated within Westminster. We have now uncovered the actual historical documents that prove this is the case and will perhaps throw some more light on this key moment in parliamentary history. The event is considered to be such a landmark event in British politics that a plaque was secretly installed in Parliament in honour of her rebellious act by Tony Benn, with the aid of Helena Kennedy QC and Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn. We had already found Emily Davison on the census listed at her boarding house, but had wanted for some time to discover how much truth there was in the parliament story. Thinking laterally, we realised that there was a possibility that she had been incorrectly recorded by the enumerator, and decided to try searching for her using the " variants " search on the findmypast.co.uk 1911 census search . This search not only looks at exact names searched for, but also looks for common variants of names. Sure enough, when we repeated the search with the surname variants search on and allowing a few more years flexibility than her actual age at the time of the census, she immediately appeared listed as Emily Wilding Davidson (note the extra D in her surname). Most astonishingly, her address was listed on the census transcript as "Found Hiding in Crypt of Westminster Hall Westminster". Emily Davison on the findmypast.co.uk 1911 census (Click on image to enlarge) Intrigued, we decided to look at the original documents. First of all, we looked at the RG14 Household page - this has been signed by the Clerk of Works at the House of Commons, a Mr Percy Ridge (for a bit of fun, you can also find him in the 1911 census , living in South London). 1911 census Household form filled in by the Clerk of Works (Click on image to enlarge) We can see that Ridge’s handwriting only records Emily’s name (spelt wrongly), age (3 or 4 years off her actual age) and marital status. Somebody else (likely to be the enumerator – the handwriting looks very similar) has filled in her occupation and place of birth. It is notable that both of these pieces of information are wrong too – Davison had given up full-time teaching in 1909 to concentrate on her work for the Women’s Social and Political Union and her birth was registered in Greenwich, not Northumberland (Davison’s mother, however, had been born in Morpeth, Northumberland). So now on to the back of the household form, to see where this extraordinary address from the transcription had come from. Address panel from the household form (Click on image to enlarge) Sure enough, Ridge has put her address as “found hiding in the crypt of Westminster Hall since Saturday” There’s also a note at the top which says “apply Cannon Row police station for more information”. So finally, a quick look at the Enumerator's Summary to see whether she succeeded in her aim of being enumerated at Westminster. The enumerator's summary listing Emily Davison as sole occupant of the crypt (Click on image to enlarge) Sure enough, she has been enumerated as the sole occupant of the Crypt in the "Houses of Parliament". A few interesting lessons for family historians in this discovery : 1. Think laterally when searching for names and dates of birth and allow for wide margins of error even if you think you have the exact information 2. Use the "variants" search on findmypast.co.uk - it really is a powerful piece of technology. If any of our readers can shed any further light on this astonishing find, we'd be delighted to hear from you. Visit our blog to comment on this amazing piece of history. British Library partnership to digitise up to 40 million pages of historic newspapers We're pleased to announce a new partnership with the British Library to digitise millions of newspaper pages. This is a 10 year agreement which will deliver the most significant mass digitisation of newspapers ever in the UK. Up to 40 million historic pages from the national newspaper collection will be digitised, making large parts of this incomparable resource available online for the first time. The partnership will help to safeguard the future of the world's greatest newspaper archive. The digitised material will include local, regional and national press across 350 years. It will focus on specific geographic areas, as well as periods such as the census years between 1841 and 1911 . Additional categories will be developed which look at key events and themes such as the Crimean War, the Boer War and the suffragette movement. We're really excited about this opportunity to preserve such important pieces of history. We will let you know further details of this project in due course. Ask the Expert Many thanks to all of you who sent us your questions. Stephen Rigden, findmypast's resident expertOur resident expert Stephen Rigden, pictured right, is back on the case of trying to solve your family history mysteries. Unfortunately Steve only has time to answer a couple of your queries each month - if yours isn't featured this time then don't worry, it could appear in the next newsletter. Read on for May's selection: >From Ray Derricott : 'My late father-in-law was born on 5 August 1907 in Islington. His mother was a domestic servant serving in a house in Islington. The father is not named on the birth certificate. His mother Florence Grace Edwin does not appear on the 1911 census and neither does my father-in law, Reginald Frederick Edwin. I have tried to find out about his early life but to no avail. I know he sailed to Canada in 1929 and returned in 1931. I have his TA military record and his marriage and death certificates. But what happened to him between 1907 and 1929? I would appreciate your help.' Read Steve's answer on our blog . >From Graham Nowell in Abingdon, Oxfordshire : 'I have some items that belonged to an ancestor who was a Customs and Excise Officer in the South West of England sometime in the 1800s. I know nothing about him except his and my surname, Nowell, not a very common name. Are there any records available for searching that might give me more clues?' Read Steve's answer on our blog . Think you can baffle our expert? Email your family history questions to [email protected] with ‘Ask the Expert’ in the subject line and yours could be featured in our next newsletter. Your experiences In our previous newsletters we asked you to send us your experiences of researching your family tree. As usual we've received some fascinating stories so thanks to all of you who sent them in. We've selected the following two stories to publish this month - visit our blog to read the full versions. Trevor Bailey in South Australia: 'My 84 year old mother had long suspected that her father (who was accidentally killed in 1934 when she was still a child) had a previous marriage with children, but it was never talked about by her own mother. As an only child, my mother longed to know if she had any half brothers or sisters. As my grandfather had a rather common name, and lived in London, checking for any previous marriages on the General Register Office registers produced too many possibilities to easily investigate...' Read the rest of Trevor's story on our blog . Vivienne Whiddett-Hare: 'I was evacuated from Battersea, London to South Derbyshire in 1944 aged 6 weeks. My mother, who I found to be unmarried with a lot of children, (I have found 10 but my sister, who I met before she died, told me there were 14) asked the couple who I was placed with in south Derbyshire to adopt me, which they did...' Read the rest of Vivienne's story on our blog . We love reading your experiences so keep sending them to us. Post your story on our Facebook page or email it to [email protected] . If you'd like to comment on either of these experiences you can do so by visiting our blog . Great-great grandparents winners Once you register with findmypast.co.uk we send you a series of emails to help with your research. One of them involves finding your great-great grandparents and we are happy to announce this round of winners. The following people have been awarded a 12 month Full subscription: February 2010 - Phil Roberts March 2010 - Rosamond Chamberlain April 2010 - Janet Taylor Congratulations to all of you and thanks to everybody for entering. Keep emailing us your great-great grandparents and the next winner could be you. This is a quarterly competition so the next round of winners will be announced in August. Discover My Past England Discover Discover My Past England May issueMy Past England is a monthly online magazine dedicated to England's heritage and English family history. Each issue provides an insight into the way our ancestors used to live plus advice on how to trace them. The May issue includes features on Victorians and Edwardians at work, tracing your postal worker ancestors and you can read an exclusive interview with findmypast's marketing manager, Debra Chatfield. To see a preview or to buy a subscription please visit Discover My Past's website . Competition – win a military history book This month's competition has a military theme to celebrate the release of our latest batch of Chelsea Pensioner records. My Ancestor Was In The British ArmyWe would like you to answer the following question: How many William Shakespeares do we have in our Chelsea Pensioners records collection? Search our Chelsea Pensioner records to find out the answer - remember these records are free to search, like all the records on our site. To be in with a chance of winning, send your answers to [email protected] with 'May competition' in the subject line. The winner will receive a copy of My Ancestor Was In The British Army by Michael J Watts and Christopher T Watts. This book is a practical guide for anyone who would like to research their ancestors who served in the British Army since 1660. Good luck! Thanks to all of you who entered April's competition . The winner is Barbara Renshaw from Haslemere, Surrey who correctly answered that Florence Nightingale's address and occupation as stated on the 1901 census were: 10, South Street, St George Hanover Square, London, Living on own means. Congratulations Barbara and we hope you enjoy your prize, a 6 month subscription to Your Family History magazine. We hope you enjoyed this month's newsletter. The findmypast.co.uk team Recently added records We have recently added many new parish records, including Wiltshire, Manchester and Dorset records, Lincolnshire parish records, East End London baptisms and burials, London and Kent probate records, Middlesex baptisms and burials and the extension of records for the Halifax District. Try searching them now!