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Somerset & Dorset
Family History Society

Royal Navy

Dorset’s Poldark?

The Captain Poldark of Winston Graham’s novels and the television series is well-known to many He was not though the only such military officer to have exciting adventures at the time of the Napoleonic Wars and afterwards Dorset too had such a hero Naval General Service Medal 1847          Photo courtesy of Hugh Pitfield - see below Joseph Edward Chilcott PITFIELD was baptised in 1788 in Buckland Ripers, the eldest son son of Joseph Pitfield and Mary SLADE,...
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Lord Dorset’s Recompense

Serendipity (unexpected and fortunate discoveries) can be a marvelous feeling, not least in the course of family history research Some years ago at the British Library, I noticed, quite by chance, that it has an Index of Names associated with its Manuscripts Collection Such indices are invaluable to genealogists Nothing ventured, I inserted the name ‘PITFIELD’ and the search referred me to an amazing document This is a letter from Thomas SACKVILLE, first Earl of Dorset, who was the Lord...
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The Curious Case of Henry Evelyn Pitfield Sturt

Often family tree research reveals fascinating and sometimes puzzling stories A good example is the history of Henry Evelyn Pitfield STURT Henry was the youngest son of Humphrey Sturt MP (1724-1786) and Mary PITFIELD (1740-1807), an immensely rich couple Humphrey owed his wealth to his grandfather Sir Anthony Sturt who had been a successful businessman in the City of London Through his mother Humphrey inherited the Moor Crichel estate in Dorset He served as MP for Dorset from 1754 to 1784 Mary...
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Family History Day & AGM

Each year the SDFHS Family History Day, which includes our AGM, is organised by one of our ten local groups and this year it was the turn of the South Dorset Group who hosted the event at St Aldhelm's Church Centre in Weymouth The venue was excellent, very easy to find and with good facilities, and all the hard work done by the Group in preparation paid off, resulting in a very well-organised and interesting day In addition to the talks, there were several stalls (including our own SDFHS...
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Member and Guest Blogs Welcome

We welcome guest and member blog posts on any topic with a family history connection and invite you to send your contributions, which should include photo/photos, to the editor Barbara Elsmore

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