Around Britain
Jonathan Scott returns to Yorkshire to find out the latest news for remote researchers
A complete guide to finding your North Yorkshire kin
North Yorkshire enjoys a reputation as a place of no-nonsense plainspeaking, hard work and good, strong tea. It also happens to be beautiful, with a proud industrial heritage peppered by feats of engineering and world-changing innovation.
The county was formed in the 1970s by taking bites out of all three of the historic Ridings as well as York itself. For remote researchers, the pick of the online offerings from commercial players is the enormous Yorkshire Collection at findmypast.co.uk. This comprises parish records, Bishops’ Transcripts, memorial inscriptions, burial records and more, all through a long-term partnership with the Yorkshire Digitisation Consortium – its members include the Borthwick Institute for Archives (originally founded as a home for the York Diocesan Archive in the 1950s), Doncaster Archives, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, North Yorkshire County Council, Sheffield Archive and Sheffield Local Studies Library, together with Teesside Archives.
This parish treasure trove includes the baptism entry for Guy Fawkes (the original is at the Borthwick Institute), while North Yorkshire archivist Anthony Hughes cites an example from Hinderwell, north of Whitby.
He says: “There are many interesting parish register entries but one that really caught my imagination is an entry from 1603 in the Hinderwell register, which lists burials of people who died from plague. A ship stranded in Runswick Bay brought the disease
‘We hold nearly 6,000 appeal papers from WW1 soldiers’
and 49 villagers died, all of whom are listed in the register.”
The record office holds many collections here relating to local industries and businesses. “One of our most impressive is the archive of Cochrane and Sons of Selby, shipbuilders. Cochranes was a significant employer in Selby from 1898 until the shipyard closed in 1993. The Cochranes-built trawler Kashmir became famous as the Rainbow Warrior II when it was owned by Greenpeace.” The collection includes minutes, plans and specifications; wages books; photographs; and publicity and advertising material.
Easy Access
Many of the records held here are available to view on microfilm in the searchroom. “We are increasing the number of digital microfilm readers so researchers can download high-quality images from microfilm to a memory stick, or opt for paper printouts,” Anthony explains.
The archive also has a large collection of estate maps from the 17th to 19th centuries, including a map of the Loftus estate showing the layout of the important alum works as it was in the 1760s.
One recent acquisition is the archive of the Graham family of
Norton Conyers, which includes title deeds, manorial records, estate records, personal papers, and maps and plans.
“It is understood that Charlotte Brontë visited Norton Conyers while working as a governess, and incorporated elements of the house in her portrayal of Thornfield Hall in Jane Eyre. The collection has been fully listed by an archivist with Heritage Lottery Fund support, and volunteers spent many hours cleaning and transcribing documents.”
The archive is regularly adding items to the online shop ( north yorks.gov.uk/county-record-office), and improving the catalogue ( archivesunlocked.northyorks.gov.uk). And volunteers are helping to list the working papers of the North Riding quarter sessions.
“Our quarter sessions records date back to the early 1600s, and the papers relating to criminal cases contain many thousands of names of people brought before the court. If you have North Riding ancestors then they’re definitely worth checking.”
Another recently completed project has seen volunteers working through North Riding Military Tribunal papers (1916– 1918). “We hold nearly 6,000 appeal papers of men who wished to defer their military service, or who conscientiously objected,” Anthony explains. “In 1921 the Board of Health issued instructions that all tribunal records be destroyed, but the North Riding papers survived because of an oversight. They
are now available to a wider audience in our online catalogue.”
The team here also provided some cataloguing training to community archive groups based around the North Craven area as part of the project ‘Capturing the Past’.
The resulting website ( dalescommunity archives.org.uk) contains lists and copies of documents ranging from Horton in Ribblesdale school records to transcripts of North Craven wills and inventories.
In our Directory section you will find a more detailed guide to the numerous archives and genealogical groups that can help you carry out research across North Yorkshire, including the Borthwick Institute. Its access archivist Gary Brannan says that many of Borthwick’s genealogical resources are available through findmypast.co.uk, including probate indexes for 1389–1858. “Since York was the seat of an archbishop, it was a major ecclesiastical and administrative centre,” he adds. “So I’ll claim the Church as an industry, and highlight that we hold the records for the administration of the diocese and archdiocese!” Since our last visit staff have installed new digital microfilm readers and taken on significant new archival deposits from pioneering mental healthcare provider The Retreat, plus Rowntree’s (and associated companies) and additional parish archives.
“We’ve also taken in new archives, including the medieval manuscript fragments in the Takamiya archive; the records of Victorian gardener James Hornby and 20th-century naturalist Catherine ‘Kit’ Rob; the records of architect Andrew Derbyshire; the letters and papers of Lawrence Rowntree; and the archive of actress Yvonne Mitchell, to name just a few.”
As we went to press, they were gearing up to launch an online Yorkshire Historic Dictionary in conjunction with the family of Dr George Redmonds and the Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society. Gary adds that they will be making a big announcement in February about medieval sources, and aim to complete the listing of the Rowntree Family and Trusts archive by the autumn.