The British Origins subscription website has added a Middlesex Baptisms Index 1538-1751. The index holds a record of nearly 100,000 baptisms (nearly 300,000 names) in Middlesex and London that aren’t included in the International Genealogical Index (IGI). In nearly all cases, the names of the parents are given, and sometimes maiden name, occupation, birth date, and other details.

At the website you can view a list of all 56 parishes covered, including the number of records in the index. The parishes with the largest number of index records (more than 7,000 each) are Hampton, Harrow St Mary, Highgate St Michael, Kensington and Staines.

Deceased Online is uploading tens of thousands of headstone and memorial transcriptions from over 50 burial grounds and cemeteries across Scotland over the next few weeks. Data for the first 15+ burial grounds (mostly in the Highlands) are immediately available, with records for Dundee, Edinburgh, Lanarkshire, the Lothians, Perth and other areas to be added shortly.

Deceased Online says: “Users can search these records specifically by using advanced search, selecting collections. They can then either purchase access to a whole cemetery/churchyard collection or, for a reduced fee, just the subset of headstone images with inscriptions containing specific surnames.

“Useful tip: once you have purchased a collection or subset there is the facility to search the collection for anything. For example, you can search for such words as ‘drowned’ or ‘killed’ and all relevant references from memorial inscriptions will be highlighted.

“The records date back to the 17th century with many from remote burial sites.”

Ancestry.co.uk has today made available online the London Electoral Registers from 1835-1965, which chart Britain’s changing political landscape from the 1800s up to modern times.

Ancestry says: “The 139 million records included in the collection detail the names and addresses of registered voters in the capital over 130 years, providing valuable insight into social trends such as the rise of the Suffragette movement, which began in 1872.

“While the fight for universal suffrage had begun in the mid-19th century, it was not until 1928 that the right to vote was granted to all women over the age of 21 following the Equal Franchise Act. Previously, female property owners could vote in local, though not parliamentary, elections.

“Analysis of the registers reveals that once women had been granted the right to vote, they flocked to the polls in record numbers to exercise their new found powers, with the proportion of women registered to vote in the capital increasing from less than one per cent in the 1800s to 56 per cent in 1929, the year after universal suffrage was declared.

“The success of the suffragette movement was largely driven by a number of notable individuals, whose voting records can be found in the collection, including that of Millicent Fawcett, one of the earliest campaigners for women’s rights. Despite her record revealing that as a property-owner she was eligible to vote from 1890, Fawcett still campaigned tirelessly to achieve equal rights for all women.

“However, by the early 20th century the campaign had made little progress and women were growing increasingly frustrated at their exclusion from the voting system, with some protesters resorting to more drastic measures to make their case heard.

“One such campaigner was Emmeline Pankhurst, who founded and led the Women’s Social and Political Union – an organisation that adopted a more militant stance in the fight for equal enfranchisement. Similarly to Millicent Fawcett, Pankhurst was entitled to vote from 1892, yet continued to fight for the cause of universal suffrage.

“With the inclusion in 1952 of the registration record for the only female Prime Minister of the UK – Margaret Thatcher, then aged 27 – the collection also reveals just how far the battle for equal rights for women has come

“Numerous prominent men involved in the suffragette movement also feature, including:

• John Stuart Mill – When parliamentary reform was being debated in 1867, John Stuart Mill proposed an amendment that would have given the vote to women on the same terms as men, but it was rejected. The campaign gained momentum after this and Mill later gave up his parliamentary seat in support of women’s suffrage.
• George Lansbury – Lansbury led the campaign in Parliament for votes for women. In October 1912 he decided to draw attention to the plight of suffragette prisoners by resigning his seat in the House of Commons and fighting a by-election in favour of votes for women. The following year he was imprisoned for making speeches in favour of suffragettes who were involved in illegal activities.
• David Lloyd George – some leading male politicians supported universal suffrage, including Lloyd George. However, as a cabinet member the Liberal politician was targeted by campaigners and subjected to verbal and physical attacks, including an arson attack on his home by suffragettes in 1913.

“Electoral registration was first introduced by the Reform Act of 1832 and since then electoral registers have been compiled annually with the exception of the years 1916, 1917 and 1940 to 1944, as none were produced during the war years.

“The impact of the First World War was to have a profound impact on the suffragette movement, as the work done by women across the country proved to be vital for Britain’s war effort and finally earned them the right to vote.”

Ancestry says: “Over the past year, we’ve added new collections from London, Yorkshire, Warwickshire, Dorset, Liverpool and Ireland to the millions of parish records already at our site. Our latest addition lets you search Dorset baptisms, marriages and burials going right back to the 16th century.

“We’re not stopping there either—we’ll be adding even more counties over the next 12 months. Our aim is to build the most comprehensive online archive of parish records, to help you trace your family’s births, marriages and deaths all the way to Tudor times.

“With so many records to wade through, it could become difficult to pinpoint the ones you’re looking for. That’s why we’ve come up with a new way to search our parish collections, making it easy to locate the records for your ancestors’ places and times. It all starts at our new parish page.

“Our parish page provides a complete map of the UK. If you want to learn more about parish records, scroll down to watch our introductory video. When you’re ready, simply select a region where your ancestors lived from the list on the left.

“On each region page, you can watch another video to learn about that area’s history and records. You’ll also see a list of all the local counties where we have parish records. Simply click on your county for more information.

“For many counties you’ll find details of our other records for that area, plus a timeline of the local history. Most importantly, though, you’ll see links to all our parish collections for that county, showing the types of record included and the dates they cover. Click one to start searching

“You can search for your ancestors by name, key dates, places and often other family members – depending on what’s included in the records. Just type in what you know and click ‘Search’, then see what turns up. Alternatively, you can see all our records for a particular parish using the ‘Browse this collection’ options.”

At the Find My Past website, you can now read the infirmity column, which contains descriptions of peoples’ health conditions as perceived and written by the head of household on the night of Sunday 2 April 1911. Under Data Protection regulations, this sensitive information has remained closed until now.

Find My Past tells us: “‘Lunatic’, ‘imbecile’ and ‘feeble-minded’ are some of the most commonly used entries, reflecting an era before such terminology was deemed unacceptable. The census prompts the head of household to record if a person is ‘totally deaf’, ‘deaf and dumb’, ‘totally blind’, ‘lunatic’, ‘imbecile’ or ‘feeble-minded.’

“However, not all the entries are negative or insensitive. The 1911 records also reflect the humour and curious family dynamics from a century ago – not too dissimilar to what we know now in 2012. One extraordinary record details a Mr John Underwood from Hastings recording his children as ‘quarrelsome’, ‘stubborn’, ‘greedy’, ‘vain’ and ‘noisy’. He even records himself as ‘bad-tempered’ and his wife as suffering from a ‘long tongue’.

“Another unusual entry is from Thomas Wallace Young, who was described as being ‘bald and toothless’, helping us picture exactly what he looked like. William Robert Arnold from Yorkshire commented on his financial status in 1911 by recording his infirmity as being ‘short of cash’.

“The cause of the suffragettes is also illustrated within the new records, with some women listing their infirmities as not having the vote or not being enfranchised. For example, four women living in the same household recorded their infirmities as ‘voteless, therefore classed with idiots and children’.

“Some chose to make a note of their good health instead of the health problems the form enquired about, such as ‘well’, ‘healthy’, ‘sane’, ‘alright’ and even ‘perfect’. Evelyn Baker and her family from Leeds were recorded in the census by their father Addiman Parkin Barker as simply being ‘alive’. Seventy-two entries simply say ‘none, thank God’.

“A correlation between infirmity and occupation can also be identified in some cases. The biggest source of employment for blind men and women was basket-weaving. Other trades for blind men were musicians or musical instrument makers. Women who were ‘deaf and dumb’ were often employed within the textile or garment trades, or in domestic service, while men were most likely to be labourers.”

Ancestry says, “Next year, there’ll be even more opportunities to discover your family’s stories. We’ll have millions more international records—from the 1940 US Census to occupation records from around the globe.

“You’ll see more UK parish records from brand new counties, and crucial new military collections. We’ll also be completing the 1911 Census and unveiling a new way to use the records, making it easy for everyone to find their Edwardian ancestors. Plus, look out for more great innovations throughout the year!”

These include:

• the 1881-1901 Scottish censuses;
• three million crime, courts and convict records (in partnership with The National Archives);
• local records (including those for Wales, Westminster, Canterbury and Hertfordshire);
• electoral rolls 1832-1928 (in partnership with the British Library);
• maritime birth, marriage and death records.

Find My Past also promises:

• big improvements in family tree building;
• new tools to organise research;
• a new and improved help and advice section.

Boxing Day is one of the most popular times of the year for people to research their family history. With the family gathered around for the festivities, it’s the perfect time to quiz the older generations on what they remember about the family, and get the youngsters inspired too. With nothing but repeats on telly all week, you’ve got time on your hands to get down to some serious record searching.

With this in mind, Find My Past and Genes Reunited will be taking part in this year’s Start Your Family Tree Week. From Boxing Day 2011 right through to New Year’s Day there’ll be special offers available every day, including free getting-started guides, printable charts, discounts and competitions.

A further set of abstracts covering the period 1822 to 1858 has just been added to the Surrey and south London will abstracts on the National Wills Index. The database contains fully-indexed abstracts of every Surrey will known to still exist, nearly 30,000 of them, dating from the 15th to the 19th century, covering over 562,700 names. Nearly all the originals, proved at the Archdeaconry or Commissary Courts of Surrey, are held at the London Metropolitan Archives.

The website offers access to up to 4 million fully searchable pages, featuring newspaper titles from every part of the UK and Ireland.

The newspapers – which mainly date from the 19th century, but which include runs dating back to the first half of the 18th century – cover every aspect of local, regional and national news. Thousands of new pages will be added to the collection every day, to reach up to 40 million pages over the next 10 years. This is a wonderful resource for family history research.

Alongside first-hand accounts of historic events, such as the wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and the Charge of the Light Brigade, the newspapers also provide numerous rich details about how our ancestors lived. You can search a wealth of material to help your family history research, including family notices, announcements and obituaries. The ability to search by name, location, date and newspaper title means that you can search hundreds of thousands of pages at a time to track down those elusive ancestors.

Amy Sell’s ancestor

Findmypast.co.uk’s marketing executive, Amy Sell, has made a fascinating discovery of her own in the archive. She found an article about her great-great-great-grandfather, Richard Howard, who was accused of stealing a pocket watch. We learn Richard’s fate at the end of the article: ‘Verdict: “Not guilty” – this caused much surprise in court.’

As well as adding new and colourful information to her family tree, the article also tells Amy the following about her great-great-great-grandfather:

• His age in 1867 (30);
• His occupation (chimney sweep);
• Where he was from (Hitchin, Hertfordshire);
• His father (Amy’s great-great-great-great-grandfather)’s name (James Howard) and the words he used to describe his son’s character;
• Information about her ancestor’s whereabouts in the 1850s – his father said “he has been at Biggleswade for ten years, and works for all the gentry”.

Alexander Brodie

I’m hoping I’ll find out more about my ancestors too.

According to the Caledonian Mercury for Thursday 21 December 1815, “The legatees of the late Alexander Brodie, Esq. of Tooting in Surrey, a native of the county of Peebles, patentee for stoves and ship hearths, have fulfilled the intention of their deceased relative, by presenting to the Lord Provost, Magistrates, and Council, patrons of the University of this city [Edinburgh], an elegant marble mantle piece and stove, of exquisite workmanship, prepared by Mr. Brodie, to be placed in such apartment of the New College buildings, as the patrons might judge proper. The value of this present is estimated at 700 guineas.”