Family historian, lecturer, author. Former Principal Family History Specialist at The National Archives. Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. 42 years in the business. Loves a good map. #Genealogy #FamilyHistory https://lifelinesresearch.co.uk/https://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3mu2y5bfkes25I came across the phrase 'upon liking' in a workhouse register and I wanted to know what it meant. I found a great definition in Oliver Twist! "... if a master find ... that he can get enough work out of a boy without putting too much food into him, he shall have him ... to do what he likes with."27 Aug 2026 13:43 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu2y5bfkes25https://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3mu2hj7agc225This is something I've never come across before. The Young family took their 1921 census schedule with them from their home at 56 North Road, Bournbrook, Birmingham to their holiday home in Bournemouth! The Bournemouth enumerator appears to have pragmatically incorporated the schedule with his own.27 Aug 2026 08:46 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu2hj7agc225https://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3mtxybrpsns22I don't think the genealogy gods are playing fair today...26 Aug 2026 09:08 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtxybrpsns22https://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3mtw67v7lhs2bRemembering my mum today on what would have been her 99th birthday...25 Aug 2026 15:49 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtw67v7lhs2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3mtvzitc5us23I’ve just watched the final episode of Series 6 of A House Through Time and I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the current series has been the best of the lot. In fact, I’ll go even further and say that it’s one of the best factual TV series that I’ve ever seen. Outstanding stuff…25 Aug 2026 14:24 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtvzitc5us23https://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3mtvdbujpnk2aWhen Richard Alcock (5th Dragoon Guards) claimed his Military General Service Medal in 1848 for his earlier service in the Peninsular War, he nearly didn't get it - due to confusion around the spelling of his name. They eventually found him. His surname had been recorded as Elcock! [See ALT text]25 Aug 2026 07:47 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtvdbujpnk2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3mttjxoe6nc27Thomas & Mary Port only remained in Stafford Street for a couple of years. By 1853 they had moved to 191 Sherlock Street, one of the main arterial roads leading into Birmingham from the south. Their new shop was on the corner of Gooch Street and Sherlock Street. #MyFamily52Maps24 Aug 2026 14:41 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mttjxoe6nc27https://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3mtstcnykrc2vAfter leaving Buckingham, where he'd grown up, my 2xGt Grandfather, Thomas Port, moved to Birmingham. His first address in the city was 56 Stafford Street, where he and his wife, Mary, ran a draper's shop, located somewhere in the red circle. Nothing remains of Stafford Street today. #MyFamily52Maps24 Aug 2026 07:56 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtstcnykrc2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3mtlw5hdqi224I'm sure he wasn't a great person but does what he looked like have any bearing on whether or not he was guilty of the charge? 'Peter Dalton, a repulsive-looking fellow...21 Aug 2026 13:58 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtlw5hdqi224https://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3mtl7vqcfvk27He was their 'Huncle'... 🥰 [1851 Census, Wormhill, Staffordshire]21 Aug 2026 07:20 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtl7vqcfvk27https://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3mte7o7cn4k23I genuinely don’t know what I would do without my local FamilySearch Centre…18 Aug 2026 12:27 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mte7o7cn4k23https://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3mtb5e2xg4c2iMy 2x Gt Grandmother, Margaret Hay Sinclair, was born in 1857 at 'Hannabeck' or Hangaback, a then newly-established settlement in the Orkney mainland parish of Orphir, looking out over Scapa Flow. The Sinclairs' farm didn't last very long. It had gone by the late 1870s. #MyFamily52Maps17 Aug 2026 07:07 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtb5e2xg4c2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3msztifyuqk2nI'm off to Kent today! I'm speaking this evening to the Canterbury branch of the @kentfhs.bsky.social in their new venue at Lower Hardres. Hoping it's not too hot! 🥵 We'll be looking at newspapers and how to use them to reconstruct the lives of our 'ordinary' ancestors...14 Aug 2026 09:22 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3msztifyuqk2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3msutmizybk2aI returned from my visit to Kew yesterday with 627 document photos to sort out. That's today's work then...12 Aug 2026 09:41 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3msutmizybk2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3mspyr5kmxk2lAfter moving from his native Eday, my 2x Gt Grandfather, James Miller, settled in Orphir on Orkney's mainland, before moving to Kirkwall. In the early 1900s he moved again, settling in Edinburgh where he lived for over 40 years. A bit of a change from his old childhood farm... #MyFamily52Maps10 Aug 2026 11:30 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mspyr5kmxk2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3msplzy3aic2jJames Miller, my 2xGt Grandfather, was born in 1857 at Dale, a small farm in Eday, one of Orkney's northernmost islands. He died in Edinburgh in 1946. I often think about the enormous changes he must have witnessed over the course of his life... #MyFamily52Maps10 Aug 2026 07:42 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3msplzy3aic2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3msnoua7ne226There’s a new series of #AHouseThroughTime starting this Thursday and it’s set in Edinburgh and I dont think I’ve ever been quite this excited! 😛 What this world really needs right now is @davidolusoga and more of him… https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0p2my5d09 Aug 2026 13:27 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3msnoua7ne226https://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3msnoevwxbc26A day late for #InternationalCatDay but then, in some respects, everyday is International Cat Day… Here’s my grandma and her mum and their Siamese Cat, Sabsom. Photo taken in Carrick Knowe, Edinburgh in the mid-to-late 1950s.09 Aug 2026 13:19 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3msnoevwxbc26https://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3msknon62m22jI've always struggled with the fact that one of my wife's 3x gt grandfathers worked in later life as a 'school master'. It never seemed to fit with my picture of her poor, largely working-class ancestors. Charles Turnock left a will when he died in 1855 but his estate was valued at under £20... 1/08 Aug 2026 08:28 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3msknon62m22jhttps://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3msi3yqx4uk2jI always like finding people staying at a hotel at the time of the census, or even better, running the hotel. A quick search online and you're bound to find some contemporary photos and illustrated adverts. Yesterday I found a couple running the Star Hotel in St Helier, Jersey in the 1911 census.07 Aug 2026 08:07 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3msi3yqx4uk2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3msfkg6vjy22lGetting ready to head into London for this afternoon's talk at @sogorg.bsky.social I'm honoured to be sharing the stage with the great Dr Colin Chapman. It's not every day you get to meet the person who came up with an internationally recognised coding system! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapman_code06 Aug 2026 07:47 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3msfkg6vjy22lhttps://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3msdab4lyls2dOne of the greatest 'doh!' moments in the history of family history came shortly before the 1836 Act that introduced civil registration in England and Wales was due to come into effect. Someone noticed that there was no provision to record the *place* of birth or death on the new certificates... 1/05 Aug 2026 09:40 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3msdab4lyls2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3mscyti5yb22rHeading into London tomorrow to do a talk for the Society of Genealogists @sogorg.bsky.social We'll look at the language of illegitimacy and its impact on our ancestors' lives and I'll share a few examples of the thoughts of some seriously judgemental clergymen! https://portal.sog.org.uk/Event/view/238808705 Aug 2026 07:27 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mscyti5yb22rhttps://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3msajtuz7js2bI'm playing catchup with my #MyFamily52Maps project... My gt grandfather, Samuel Christie Annal, was born in South Ronaldsay, Orkney in 1882. But his ancestors came almost exclusively from a particular part of the island, known as the East Side, centred on the districts of Lythes, Aikers & Papley.04 Aug 2026 07:53 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3msajtuz7js2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3ms6omkl4qs2sI’m off to Kent again next week… [contains quote post or other embedded content]03 Aug 2026 14:13 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3ms6omkl4qs2shttps://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3ms5zc4ncr22hBack in the 'office' (well, sitting at the breakfast bar in the kitchen...) after two weeks of sunshine, vineyards and long walks in the woods. Now I just have to remember what it is that I actually do...03 Aug 2026 07:51 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3ms5zc4ncr22hhttps://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3mrw7gpgp6225I kept thinking about this (I know 🤫) and I've concluded that the original piece of paper *must* have been at least nominally rectangular and that the skewed appearance of the image is the result of digital manipulation at some stage of the digitisation process in an attempt to make it... 1/ [contains quote post or other embedded content]31 Jul 2026 05:20 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrw7gpgp6225https://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3mrs7ge7oek2wWhile I accept that the original piece of paper isn't quite as rectangular as it might have been, I still maintain that the writer may have been better advised to used lined paper...29 Jul 2026 15:09 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrs7ge7oek2whttps://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3mrs3vwcsg22gLooking forward to this next Thursday! [contains quote post or other embedded content]29 Jul 2026 14:06 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrs3vwcsg22ghttps://bsky.app/profile/davelifelines.bsky.social/post/3mrd3tfi4j22dMy view right now…23 Jul 2026 14:55 +0000at://did:plc:fje5wwjffepvxog772kaptxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrd3tfi4j22d