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Thomas Hardy

The Greenwood Tree – September 2019

Posted on 27th August 2019

The September issue of The Greenwood Tree focuses on agricultural labourers, the ‘ag labs' that so many of us have in our family trees, with stories on farming folk sent in by members Editor Paul Radford previews the edition which will be mailed to members at the end of August and which SDFHS members can already view or download from the Members' Area of the Society’s website The front cover shows a scene from the filming on the Mapperton Estate of the 2015 version of Far From... more

The Greenwood Tree – March 2018

Posted on 20th February 2018

Paul Radford, the new Editor of the SDFHS journal, The Greenwood Tree, previews the contents of the March issue which is now being printed The first issue of the year of The Greenwood Tree marks a new era for the Society with the transfer of our headquarters from the centre of Sherborne to Broadway House in Yeovil By sheer coincidence, my first task as the new editor of The Greenwood Tree is to bring you the story of the move and what it means for members and for the Society The change had to... more

Broadway House Family History Centre – Peter Street

Posted on 7th January 2018

As we return to 'business as usual' in our brand new, to us, Broadway House Family History Centre in Yeovil, we would like to mark the occasion with a piece on some aspects of the history of the street on which Broadway House is situated This has been brought to us by Bob Osborn, the instigator and sole contributor to the remarkable website An A-Z of Yeovil's History We would like to thank Bob for his timely contribution and for permission to include a selection of photographs The draper and... more

From Slavery to the Workhouse

Posted on 2nd May 2017

I am sure many of us have discovered that one or more of our early family members went into the workhouse Sitting at our computers in our centrally heated homes we have tried to imagine what it might have been like with, perhaps, images coming to mind of Oliver Twist asking for more, or the heavily pregnant Fanny Robin, in Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd, painfully making her way to the workhouse to meet her fate We are likely to have gleaned that this was to be avoided at all... more

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