What the SoG holds to help Australians find their British roots

• Lori
• 22.06.2019
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Remember when any Australian with British ancestors assumed they had been sent out to Australia on a convict ship? “Sent out for stealing an apple!” we would happily claim. Well, now we know a lot more about how and why our ancestors migrated to Australia.

Of course, we do find some of our ancestors on convict ships up to the 1860s, in the listings for convicts and for the guards or military that sailed with them. We may find them as bounty migrants, paid for by settlers already in Australia, who were desperate for more workers in the mid 1800s. We may find them in the assisted migrant lists, where their travel costs were subsidised, or paid in full, using one of the many Australian government immigration schemes. In fact, we now know that there were waves of migrants from Britain to Australia, from the early convicts to the ‘£10 Poms’ in the mid 20th century.

But what we can’t always find easily are the parents and grandparents our ancestors left behind...

Transcribers’ Discovery – A Sad Obituary

• Francisca Mkandawire
• 07.12.2016
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There are many transcription projects taking place for the Society of Genealogists.  As part of the transcription of the ‘Mitcham Surrey Pedigrees’, a transcript of an obituary from ‘The Gentleman’s Magazine’ was found that proved to be rather interesting yet sad.

Hell Upon Water: The Infamous Prison Ships of England 1793-1815 - A One-hour lecture on 29 June

• Lori
• 15.06.2016
• 0 Comments

Paul Chamberlain will talk about the British use of prison ships during the Napoleonic Wars. Over 200,000 prisoners of war of many nationalities were held at Dartmoor, Norman Cross and in prison ships, or hulks, during the Napoleonic Wars. British prison ships had an ominous reputation and French prisoners dreaded being sent to one. Why did the British blame Napoleon for the increasing use of prison hulks?