AROUND BRITAIN
Jonathan Scott returns to England’s most northern county to get the latest news for anyone researching their Northumbrian kin
Find your Northumberland forebears
Who Do You Think You Are? September 2018
Between 1798 and 1812 the Bishop of Durham ordered that more information be kept in baptism and burial registers
You may find yourself toasting the name of the Right Reverend Shute Barrington if your ancestors happen to have lived within the diocese of Durham from the tailend of the 18th century. Between 1798 and 1812 the Bishop of Durham, clearly a stickler for detail, ordered that more information be kept in baptism and burial registers. The baptism entries from this period give not only the date of baptism and the name of the child, but also the date of birth (often omitted from other baptism registers), position in the family, the occupation and abode of the father, and the maiden name and place of origin of the mother. Meanwhile Barrington burial registers give the name and abode of the deceased, parentage, occupation, the date of death, the date of burial and age.
“These extra details can be a goldmine for researchers,” says Northumberland Archives’ Michael Geary.
Another unique example from the parish vaults is an entry from the baptism register of the evangelical church of Ford in 1872, which has the names of a Chinese family.
“Like many parish register entries, it provides only a fleeting glimpse into a moment in time without providing much context,” says Michael. “We can tell that a couple giving their abode as Hong Kong baptised their son in the Anglican Church in 1872, and little else. But it’s fascinating to speculate as to why a couple from Hong Kong were living in Ford in 1872, still a small village today, and what they made of it – and perhaps what it made of them.
“The entry also shows that the process of globalisation we take for granted today was beginning in the Victorian era, and that the effects of the British Empire were felt even in rural Northumberland.”
In 1237, Scotland renounced claims to Northumberland in the Treaty of York. Yet the county remained the venue for small and large border wars, reivers’ raids and rebellions for decades and centuries to come. It is home to worldfamous heritage sites such as Hadrian’s Wall and the island of Lindisfarne, and known for agriculture, mining, maritime trade and breathtaking countryside peppered with distinctive fortified farmhouses.
Because of boundary changes, diocesan jurisdictions and civil registration shake-ups, there are a number of places where you can find material relating to your Northumberland kin. Newcastle itself was long ago part of Northumberland before becoming its own county, and then joining the new Tyne and Wear in 1974, and there are important collections relating to these areas both within Newcastle’s city collection and Tyne and Wear Archives.
There are two diocesan collections to consider, the diocese of Newcastle and the diocese of Durham. Material from the latter, which includes some parishes within historic Northumberland, is located at the University of Durham’s Palace Green Library. The probate material held here is particularly important – before 1858 wills were proved in church courts, and for Northumberland this was generally the consistory court of the diocese of Durham. You can search the catalogue and see images of the wills via the North East Inheritance database at family records.dur.ac.uk/nei.
Meanwhile records of the diocese of Newcastle, which covers the rest of the county, are looked after by the main
county archive headquarters at Woodhorn. This holds both registers and parish chest material (including parish relief and poor rates), alongside some material for Roman Catholic congregations and the large number of nonconformist churches in Northumberland – mainly Methodist (often among mining communities) and Presbyterian (because of the area’s close proximity to Scotland).
Industrial heritage
The county archive building reflects the industrial heritage it preserves. Woodhorn is a former coal mine, the first shaft dug in 1894. The pit closed in the early 1980s, becoming a museum in 1989, before undergoing major redevelopment and reopening in 2006.
There’s been an online shake-up since our last visit in Christmas 2012. There’s now a dedicated archival hub at northumberlandarchives.com. This is a great improvement on the old website, with details of projects, exhibitions, guides to records, and information about remote research service and ordering copies. However, there have been ongoing problems with the old online catalogue.
“We have had longstanding issues with the availability of our electronic catalogue, much to the frustration of our users,” Michael says. “But these will be resolved soon, and our new system will provide the kind of service modern researchers expect.” In the meantime a