01935 429609
Somerset & Dorset
Family History Society
Family History Society
How can we help you? We will help you to find documented facts about the lives of your former family members which will unlock doors to your own personal family story. Although we do specialise in Somerset and Dorset and have extensive records from our two counties, our experienced Research Volunteers have skills which can help you trace your family roots, regardless of where they might have originated.
Our Family History Centre is at Broadway House, Peter St, Yeovil BA20 1PN. Find out more about how we can help with your research and the facilities we have to offer.
The Society’s Family History Centre in Yeovil is still closed to members and other visitors, but we are very pleased to have reopened our bookshop for online sales and orders by post, only – please do not come to the Centre to buy books.
Our Research Volunteers are still working mainly from home but do now have some access to our resources at the Centre, so if you would like any help with your family history research email: [email protected] and we will do our best to help you.
When we are able to reopen the Centre to visitors, we will inform members by electronic newsletter and will also post the information on our website and on Facebook. If you do not already receive e-newsletters, but would like to do so, please email: [email protected].
The SDFHS is looking for a Bookkeeper – is this for you?
What you will do
What you will receive
If you are interested, please contact [email protected]
The final version of the Society Annual Report and Accounts will be posted here in early October once members have had a chance to comment.
Check out the Women's Suffrage Database containing details of 3,000 individuals who were active in the campaign for women’s suffrage between 1866–1914.
Database at www.suffrageresources.org.uk/database
With December and Christmas just around the corner, we are delighted to share with you details of our upcoming FREE lectures for the Festive Season.
Interested in any of the following?
✅ #Christmas ✅ #Folklore ✅ #History ✅ #Ghosts ✅ #Angels or
✅ #Churches
Then make sure you sign up for our lectures as we've got:
🎄 CHRISTMAS: Tradition, Truth & Total Baubles! with former BBC comedy writer, Nick Page
👼 ANGELS a history with journalist, presenter and author, Peter Stanford
👻 CHRISTMAS GHOSTS with historian, folklorist, and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Dr Francis Young
🍺 HOLY INAPPROPRIATE "Secular" uses of the medieval church with historian, author, and TV presenter 𝔇𝔯 𝔈𝔪𝔪𝔞 𝔍. 𝔚𝔢𝔩𝔩𝔰
💀 CURSES, LEGENDS & MURDER: Folklore & Strange Tales of Thomas Becket with Mark Norman from The Folklore Podcast
Learn more about these exciting free lectures and how to join on our website 👉 bit.ly/3nhwuVr
#Thanks to You and #National Lottery !
The Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society are very grateful to the players of the National Lottery which has enabled us receive a grant to restore the Castle Gardens.
The gardens are a Scheduled Monument in the centre of Taunton'.
We have an online 'booth' at the Family History Federation's Really Useful Family History Show today: www.fhf-reallyuseful.com/ If you're attending, do stop by and say 'hello'.
Saturday 14 November at 2pm on zoom. Jacqui Halewood from Dorset History Centre will be talking about the Herrison Asylum Project.
In the latest post on our blog Phil Nichols describes his research into a photograph of a couple in a farmyard, with the photographer’s name given as Sydney Shaw of Alexandra Road, Clevedon. Phil has identified the couple in the photograph, and has also investigated the career of the photographer, Sydney Henry Shaw
Discoveries from a Clevedon Photograph | Somerset & Dorset Family History Society
sdfhs.org
A portrait of a couple in a farmyard, with the photographer’s name given as Sydney Shaw of Alexandra Road, Clevedon. This was a ‘cabinet card’ photograph that my colleague Allan Collier had acqu...Peter Jolliffe – The Courageous Captain
www.sdnq.org.uk
In the church of St James in Poole, Dorset, is a memorial to Captain Peter Jolliffe (1658-1730) who died on 12 November 1730 in his 72nd year. The inscription on the memorial celebrates Peter Joll...Just two weeks before the Second World War ended in the Far East, the young serviceman pictured here was killed. Oliver White was only 21 years old.
His tragic story appears with 38 others in an online exhibition which has been created specially to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. It remembers the sons and daughters of Wells who died during that war and who are named on the Wells War Memorial.
“This year’s Remembrance Day will be like none before,” says David Walker, Curator of Wells & Mendip Museum. “During the extraordinary circumstances of a pandemic lockdown one day can be much like another, but it is important that we take time to remember and recall, to mark the occasion, and its place in the year. Sharing these stories means so much to the families of those who died, and to us all.”
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The exhibition can be found at: wellsmuseum.org.uk/wells-war-memorial-project
Or, from our website homepage, go to “Research” then “Wells War Memorial Project”
wellsmuseum.org.uk
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Wells & Mendip Museum and Wells City Archives have jointly produced this exhibition, along with invaluable contributions from members of the community. Dr Julia Wood, Wells City Archivist, says, “We’ve had a wonderful response from relatives and friends of the Wells servicemen and women who died, and offer our thanks to all those who have contributed to the project”.
Photograph of Oliver White courtesy of Mrs Betty Holland, Oliver’s sister.
Contact for further information: Dr Julia Wood (Wells City Archivist), [email protected], tel. 07731 952271
St Mary’s Wedmore - A Service for Remembrance Sunday 2020 - YouTube
www.youtube.com
An Act of Remembrance at the War Memorial in St Mary’s Wedmore churchyard for Remembrance Sunday 2020. The names of the WW1 fallen are read by children from Hug...A productive afternoon adding entries for the Bastard, Brine & Horlock families to @FindaGrave, buried at St Mary the Virgin Church in Charlton Marshall, Dorset. My thanks to Mandy, a lovely volunteer for taking photos. Also updated their @WikiTreers profiles too.
Do come and find out more about what we're doing as a project!
Online, Wednesday 25 Nov, 5.30pm start!
#Twitterstorians https://twitter.com/DrAdamChapman/status/1329029042557816833
Sign up, sign up, for this exciting seminar exploring #publichistory, collaborative research and the challenges these present (and yes, the railway context). https://twitter.com/RWLDproject/status/1329028579842281472
