Hampshire Online
BEST WEBSITES TO AID YOUR RESEARCH
The online priority for Hampshire Archives and Local Studies has been perfecting the catalogue at calm.hants.gov.uk. It currently boasts descriptions of nearly one million catalogued records – representing about 90 per cent of holdings. Matthew says that making some of these archives available online is the next step: “Grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund have enabled us to make a number of document images accessible, attached to their catalogue entries. Going forward, we are actively exploring online access to popular family history sources.”
Meanwhile, Hampshire Archives has launched a weekly blog, covering topics range from the Winchester Riot to house history ( hampshire archivesandlocalstudies.wordpress.com).
If your family comes from the Isle of Wight, the record office includes several useful finding aids at iwight.com/recordofficedatabases. These include lists of paupers, Apprenticeship Indentures (1689-1835), Cowes Registry of Shipping (1786-1930), Sacrament Certificates (1673-1827) and Indictment Certificates (1768-1836). There’s also a list of Ale House Licences (1766-1819) arranged by name of pub. Click the Jolly Trooper, for example, and you find the reference number for a licence dated 1785, with a victualler named Sarah Young.
Ancestry has Hampshire Allegations for Marriage Licences (1689-1837), while some Hampshire Genealogical Society parish material is on Findmypast ( search.findmypast.co.uk/ search-world-records/hampshire-baptisms). The society also recently teamed up with thegenealogist.co.uk, leading to over 2.1 million searchable records. Its website has details of the research centre and publications ( hgs-familyhistory.com), and you should also try the Hampshire Online Parish Clerk Project ( knightroots.co.uk/parishes.htm).
Eastleigh Borough Council has a cemetery database at www.eastleigh.gov.uk/ourcommunity/cemeteries-in- eastleigh/ cemetery- database.aspx and you can search Southampton Old Cemetery at findagrave.com.
Finally there are lots of free city and Hampshire-wide directories via the University of Leicester’s Special Collections Online website ( specialcollections.le.ac.uk/cdm).