|
|
This entry in Pen & Sword's 'Tracing your…' series of guides for the family historian looks at the East End of London, defined here as the Tower Hamlets area of London.
The tight geographical focus of this book makes a real difference to its contents. Most books in this series look at a topic that isn't limited geographically, but is some other way such as service in a British tank regiment. As a result much of their material is quite general as the people being studies could have come from just about anywhere.
Here that isn't the case and so the authors can provide concrete information on exactly where to go to look for different sources - where to find parish records, local societies, which local newspapers to study or which London archives contain which data.
The tight geographical focus also allows the author to include a decent history of the East End, from its rural origins through its time as a fairly prosperous area, through its descent into poverty and on towards modern times. There are also interesting sections immigration into the East End, both from the British countryside and from overseas and the difficulties in tracing many immigrants.
It must be said there isn't really a direct link between this book and our focus on military history, apart from a tiny chapter looking at the records relating to the Blitz, but it will be of use for those of our readers who are tracing their family history and have found ancestors in the East End.
Chapters
1 - Our Ancestors in Context: A Summary History of Tower Hamlets
2 - Research
3 - The Prime Sources
4 - Other Main Sources
5 - Records of Groups
6 - Occupational Groups
7 - The Second World War - the Blitz Sources
8 - The Street/ House They Lived In
9 - Maps
Appendices
1 - The Borough and Administrative Units
2 - Parish Registers
3 - Nonconformist Chapel Registers
4 - Marriage Venues for East Enders
5 - Summary List of Records at Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives
6 - Medieval Ancestors - Some Sources
7 - Select Bibliography
8 - Organisations
Author: Jane Cox
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 254
Publisher: Pen & Sword Family History
Year: 2011