Category Archives: 18th Century 1700-1799

Posts pertaining to the C18th

John Strype’s Survey of London 1720

John Strype’s Survey of London was written in 1720 following the Great Fire of London

Our vision of London before the Great Fire would be all the poorer if not for the labour of love that was John Stowes survey of London. The Tudor capital comes alive under his hand. We are lucky to;

‘view the manners of the town, peruse the traders, gaze upon the buildings’

The Great Fire wiped away much of Stowes London and great though this devastation was, what came after was a period of building and expansion that wouldn’t have been possible before. It was time to update Stowe.

John Strype was tasked with presenting a new survey of London

John Strype (1643-1737) was an ecclesiastical historian and biographer. His family were Huguenots and his father a merchant and silk throwster, working just off Petticoat Lane. John was a clergyman, a capable researcher and correspondent, who produced historical and biographical chiefly about the Protestant Reformation. His gift to us social and family historians today, is his publication of a new, hugely expanded version of Stow’s Survey of London in 1720.

John Strype Survey of London
John Strype

How lucky are we then that the Stuart London Project, a collaboration between the University of Sheffield and the Leverhulme Trust, has digitized the entire book along with the amazing maps and images contained within the survey. There is so much to excite the family historian about this project. We all like to add flavour to the family history stories we tell and the Stuart period can be tricky. Many of us are able to trace ancestors back to the latter part of this period though. Someone who appears in the 1841 or even 1851 census may have been born in the 1770’s or 1780’s, just fifty years or so on from John Strype’s survey.

John Strype’s maps of the parishes are incredibly detailed

The street pattern of so much of London has altered that these clear maps are a gift. The parish of St Clement Danes for example shows in amazing detail the buildings around the Inns of Court. The small yards and lanes, many long lost can be picked out. The image of Somerset House gives a wonderful view not just of the house but of the built area around it, not to mention the various crafts upon the River Thames.

John Strype Survey of London
John Strype Survey of London

What else is there for the family historian in John Strype’s Survey of London?

Besides being able to search the entire volumes by key words, there is a list of London parishes, which can then in turn be interrogated. A list of benefactors names is also included, so if you happen to be a descendent of Mr George Dottin, Druggist, well here he is, putting his hand in his pocket so that this mighty 18th century survey can be written.

The digitization of such works allows you to link your family history data with historic data, add it to your narrative to add flavour and contextual details. This is a great example of open access to books and documents which otherwise, for most of us would remain closed.

Gutenberg Project Free Ebook Resources

Gutenberg Project 38,000 Free Ebooks for all, legitimate and great research resources non-fiction as well as fiction. Over 100,000 books with partners and affiliates, it is a great resource for historians. Thanks to it’s late founder Michael S Stearn… more

The totally incredible Spinning Mule, invented by Samuel Crompton, revolutionised spinning in the C19th
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  1. Northampton and the First Cotton Spinning Mill 1742 Once John Kay had invented the flying shuttle the possibility for mass production of broadloom cloth became a reality. The curb on production was producing enough yarn for the weavers. The opportunity to invent a machine that would speed up the process of spinning yarn encouraged the invention of new machines In 1738, Lewis Paul……
  2. John Kay 1753-54 House destroyed by machine breakers…keeps inventing John Kay Inventor persecuted and house destroyed by machine breakers, he didn’t give-up and kept inventing, now that’s entrepreneurial against the odds…and was this the start of organised labour and uprisings?…
  3. Ada Lovelace 1815 – 1852 and the first computer programme Aususta Ada Lovelace was a brilliant mathematician who took Charles Babbage’s analytical machine a step further, so why don’t we know more about her?…

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First fleet to Australia, an amazing achievement by convicts, guards, sailors and families together, a journey against all odds
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  1. American War, prison hulks, Joseph Banks, Australia. Connect! The American War, Joseph Banks, prison hulks and Australia, what connects them all? Connections exist across all areas of history including our own, it’s just a matter of discovering them…

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New Ancestry Website

New Ancestry Website

Is the New and major Ancestry upgrade more like colourful building blocks we all treasured as kids, or more like a battleship grey but none less popular Aeroplane kit, less creative and more prescriptive? Take a look a this excellent new interface and find out how together we might take a fresh look at our toolkit and resources for family history spurred on by this latest competitive leap by Ancestry.

The English Accent and Family History

The English Accent and Family History

What English accent did your ancestors speak with back in Elizabethan England? You might be surprised to learn that an American reciting Shakespeare is nearer to the mark than you or I.

Scotland’s Valuation Rolls

Scotland’s Valuation Rolls

The 1925 Valuation Rolls for Scotland have just been launched by Scotland’s People and are free to search.

People of Northern England Database

People of Northern England Database

The People of Northern England (PONE) database is not new but not much heard about either. This database is of the people in the Northern counties of Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmorland from the C13th. It is drawn from two types of material, one financial and one legal. The financial material is drawn from the pipe…

History Pin WWI Hub

Use the History Pin WWI Hub to share your WWI project and let others connect with what you are doing. Your project may be large or small but by sharing it, many more people will be able to make links and connections with you.

Mapping the London Blitz

Mapping the London Blitz

Mapping the London Blitz is a great project which has used the collated and mapped all the census material of all the bombs dropped during the Blitz 1940 – 1941. It is a fascinating resource for family historians with a connection to WWII.

Red Cross POW Records

Red Cross POW Records

The Red Cross POW records are now digitized and available online to search. For many family historians these records complete the story of their ancestors who served in WWI.

New DNA Studies

New DNA Studies

A new study of European DNA has revealed a third population group that make up the DNA of modern Europeans.

WW1 Postcards

WW1 Postcards

WW1 Postcards a rich resource and a visual opportunity, find out how to discover and use the 20K plus postcards on Europeana for the period 1914-1918 and muse over how you might dig-out what ephemera you might have in your loft or research boxes that might help you and others connect and make that next step n researching your project wehther for your family history social, local or special interest project. In the first year of the 100th centenary of WW1 will there ever be such an opportunity to explore and discover what happened and better understand those momentous events?

Operation War Diary

Operation War Diary

Operation War Diary is a crowd sourced project to classify the WWI diaries of the British Army on the Western Front. A project involving the Imperial War Museum and the National Archive.