Pen and Sword Social History

A new venture from Pen and Sword is their Social History imprint. The Editor - Jen Newby - has commissioned a whole host of fascinating titles; the first three publications will be out this year with plenty more to follow in 2014.

Why not pop over to their website to find out more.
Broadmoor Revealed by Mark Stevens is due out in May 2013 with David Castleton's In the Mind's Eye: the Blinded Soldiers of St Dunstan's and The Midwife's Tale by Billie Hunter and Nicky Leap to follow in the Autumn.

Rhuddlan Revealed

If you love your Welsh history, why not take a look at the Jan/Feb issue of Welsh Country magazine. This month, I've been researching the long and turbulent history of the Rhuddlan -  a fascinating community situated in the county of Denbighshire in North Wales.

Stories of its ancient church, ruined castle and bloody battle make interesting reading and like many of our Welsh villages, if you wander through its streets, glimpses of the past lie just around the corner waiting to be discovered.

PS - Ancestors in the Attic has also had a good review in this edition in their book section!

Family and Local History Handbook 14

If you're off to the Who Do You Think You Are Live event between the 22nd and 24th February 2013 - look out for the latest addition to the Family and Local History Handbook.

Handbook 14 is due to be launched at the event packed with interesting articles to spark new lines of enquiry and a whole host of listings to help with your research. I've contributed three articles to this collaboration and I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on a copy to read what all the other researchers have been up to and what fascinating tips they have to share.

To order directly, head over to the website at http://www.genealogical.co.uk/

Calendar Calculations

   Throughout the centuries, various diaries or almanacs have been used to mark time and fix events and religious festivals within the yearly cycle

  Originally, people would set these dates to tie in with easily observed natural occurrences like the changing seasons or varying weather but the fact that these happenings were not reliable meant that an alternative had to be found.

   In 45BC, Julius Caesar established the Julian calendar which was used in Britain and the Colonies until 1751. His formula consisted of creating eleven months of 30 or 31 days and 28 in February (except on a Leap Year when this rose to 29). The calculations differed from the solar calendar by only 11.5 minutes per year but over the centuries, these minutes added up and by the 1500’s, the Julian calendar was ten days behind its astronomical equivalent.

   To correct this problem, the Gregorian calendar was created by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. Although Britain did not take on this new schedule, other countries did. One of the main differences between the two calendars is that the Julian has a Leap Year every four years while the Gregorian does not have a Leap Year if the number is not dividable by 400 or ends in 00. Therefore, 2000 was a Leap Year but 1900 was not.

   In 1751, when Britain eventually decided to adopted the Gregorian system, eleven days had to be lost in that first year to set it in line. These were taken from the month of September when the British Calendar Act declared that Wednesday 2^nd would be followed by Thursday 14^th. 

   In the old Julian calendar, the first day of the year ran from the 25^th March - or Lady Day as it was known - so to complete the calendar changeover, 1751 ran from the 25^th March to the 31^st December allowing the following year to begin on the 1^st January.

Research Top Tip 

    If you’re able to track you ancestry back to this period, be aware that events in this year were often dated as 1750/51 when the calendar conversion took place.

Don’t Forget! 

   There may be times when you come across the Latin use of Roman numerals where a number is represented by one or more letters. Below is a quick reminder of this numerical code.

  I (i or j) = 1

  V          = 5

  X          = 10

  L           = 50

  C          = 100

  D          = 500

  M         = 1000