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Ancestry Daily News
2/25/2003 - Archive
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Colorful Characters and Worthy Citizens |
Colorful Characters and Worthy Citizens
I have been flipping through a book of reproductions of the English painter
and engraver William Hogarth and thinking more about life in England, in particular
the people that caught the public imagination. (See last month's article "Searching
for More About Life in England").
Hogarth's best selling engraving was of one such individual, Simon Fraser, Lord
Lovat, beheaded for his part in Jacobite uprising of 1745. It is a compelling
picture of an evil man and it sold like hotcakes in the days leading up to the
execution (take a look here
).
You can meet many of these characters on the Internet. This article introduces
you to a few ways to look for both the estimable citizens and the -- usually
more interesting -- notorious ones.
If you have roots in Somerset, then a source within the Ancestry databases will
be of particular interest. This is 'the worthies, unworthies and villains of
Somerset,' which sounds like an early rendition of 'the good, the bad and the
ugly.' And it turns out that this is exactly what it is; originally written
in 1897 by Arthur L. Humphries as 'the Somerset Roll: an experimental list of
worthies, unworthies and villains,' the book contains thumbnail sketches of
all sorts of people, including clergymen, lawyers, politicians, botanists, traitors
and murderers, through 900 years of English history. Just for fun I tried a
keyword search for 'executed' restricted to this one source and turned up 12
results.
Several of these suffered for their religion or political leanings. John Boyde,
born at Wells, was executed at Andover in Hampshire in 1583 for denying the
Queen's supremacy as head of the church and Henry Cuff, an Oxford scholar and
a politician, was executed in March of 1601 at Tyburn (roughly the present day
sight of Marble Arch at the west end of Oxford Street in London). The first
date corresponds with the plot of Francis Throckmorton and the second is just
two weeks after the execution of the Earl of Essex for his attempted uprising.
Several of the villains were executed for murder, including Mrs. Elizabeth Branch
and her daughter Mary at Ilchester in 1740, and a farmer, John Totterdale, in
1737. Then there was the Somerset highwayman, John Rann (also known as Sixteen
String Jack) who was hung in London at Newgate prison in 1774. If you want to
know more of Newgate prison, Tyburn, and executed criminals in general there
is lots on the web; just use the words in a search engine.
Deciding to spread my time equally between criminals and upright citizens, I
tried a general search of the Internet using 'worthies' as a keyword; no longer
in common speech, it meant a local notable person. The result was pleasantly
surprising, with many relating to British history. There are worthies of Devon,
Lancashire and Scotland, as well as worthies from particular towns and worthies
of science. These books turn up in libraries and used bookshops, too. I have
an abridged version (1952) of Thomas Fuller's Worthies of England, first published
in 1662. In the Family History Library in Salt Lake City there are at least
a dozen volumes of worthies of different English counties and, using the keyword
search with the
CD-ROM catalog, 64 results for a search for 'worthies.' I cannot tell you whether
there is a book of worthies and villains for every county, but there are enough
to make a catalog check worthwhile.
Another way to search for interesting characters and what people were gossiping
about is to consult online editions of early journals. Four
English universities (Oxford, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham) cooperated in a
project to digitize at least twenty years of issues for each of six journals;
all six can be browsed and four can be searched. They selected three of the
1700s and three of the 1800s. My favorites are the Gentleman's Magazine
(searchable), the Annual Register (browse only) and Notes and Queries
(searchable). The journals reside on the web at the site of the Bodleian Library
at Oxford University.
Depending on the journal selected, you have the option of taking a month
or year of interest and reviewing the images, page by page, or of trying a name
or keyword search in each of the searchable journals. Court proceedings are
a good source of information about notorious characters. In the account of the
October 1741 sessions at the Old Bailey, the Gentleman's Magazine reports
that the court dealt with, among others, William Quaite, a drummer, for robbery
in St. James Park and John Gulliford who had returned from transportation. (Think
of the implications of this discovery.) Whatever search you choose, it's interesting
and includes all sorts of people outside the literate and better off who may
have purchased the publication.
Resources such as volumes of worthies and the Internet Library of Early Journals
make it possible for anyone to go hunting for hidden facts and additional atmosphere.
If you are researching an unusual name then looking for it in the four searchable
journals is a logical step. Uncovering a notorious family member or finding
a reference to the marriage of a family connection are among the possible results.
Consider the name Totterdale; there are 44 in the 1881 census index. This makes
it very likely that the farmer who was hung for murder in 1740 is part of the
family and therefore worth investigating.
Genealogists quickly catch on to the added fun of bringing some life to their
family trees but it really happens more readily when there is a spark. Using
the Internet is a wonderful way to look for details that add local interest
and colorful characters to your research.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Ancestry.com subscribers with access to the UK and Ireland Records
Collection can access the 'the worthies, unworthies and villains of Somerset'
as part of Somerset, England: Parish and Probate Records
Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA (Scot) has been researching her British ancestry
for thirty years. She is an instructor and study tour leader for Samford University's
IGHR, and teaches for the online family history program of Vermont College.
Sherry is President of the Association of Professional Genealogists. She is
the author of:
Your Scottish Ancestry: A Guide for North Americans
Your English Ancestry: A Guide for North Americans
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