01935 429609

The SDFHS Blog

The Greenwood Tree – May 2016

Posted on 26th April 2016

The May edition of The Greenwood Tree will be mailed to members this week The Editor, Bob Barber, gives a preview of the contents The rather startling front cover of the May issue of The Greenwood Tree highlights an important new venture by the Society: The Somerset and Dorset Photographs Project Photographs are an important part of family history, triggering and cementing memories of the past, as Barbara Elsmore described in a previous post A major new initiative for the Society has been the... more

Collecting and Sharing Family Photos

Posted on 16th March 2016

On Saturday (19 March) we will be holding our first Photographic Project Open Day at our Family History Centre in Sherborne (for details see below) Barbara Elsmore describes her own rewarding search for family photographs which she will be adding to the SDFHS database Imagine my surprise last week when I was leafing through A Dorset Camera 1855-1914 in the library at the SDFHS Family History Centre, and a photograph of my great grandfather, George Collings, leapt off the page at me He was... more

The Charge of the Dorset Yeomanry at Agagia on 26 February 1916 – a personal view

Posted on 26th February 2016

Exactly one hundred years ago today the charge of the Dorset Yeomanry at Agagia, in Egypt's western desert, played a major role in the WWI campaign in North Africa Barbara Elsmore shares her own family's memories of this important military event Back in the 1950s and 60s, while visiting my grandparents’ house in Nether Compton, we would have all our meals in a room dominated by what seemed to me like a huge picture of men on horses brandishing swords charging towards a lot of other men in... more

The Dirdoe family of Gillingham, Dorset, and their capture by pirates

Posted on 23rd February 2016

Thomas Dirdoe who was born in 1588 in Gillingham, Dorset, was the 11th Great Grandfather of SDFHS member, Arnaud Aurejac-Davis, who tells the fascinating story of the capture of Thomas and his son by Barbary pirates The first Thomas Dirdoe (1588-aft1643) was baptized on 22 March 1588, at Gillingham, Dorset, the fourth son and child of Charles (described as a ‘gent’) and Joane Thomas must have been a boisterous young man since in July 1613, at the age of only 25, he was granted a pardon for... more

Family Tree Maker and Ancestry

Posted on 20th February 2016

Like many family historians I wanted a computer program where I could keep all the information I was finding out about my family When a friend emailed me a report she had produced I realised I wanted to be able do the same and so I turned to Family Tree Maker, paid for the 'package' and loaded it onto my home computer I loved it from the start A lot of my information had been gleaned by my cousin and she would send me bits of paper with hand written notes on them or copies of censuses and I... more