David Suchet - Wednesday 17 September at 9.00pm on BBC1
Discover Your Family’s Maritime Past Like David Suchet
During his research into his family’s past David Suchet visited
the Lowestoft Branch of the Suffolk Record Office to find out more
about his maternal grandmothers side of the family. His discoveries
revealed in this week’s Who Do You Think You Are? programme -
Wednesday 17 September at 9.00pm on BBC1 – include his
grandmother’s great grandfather who was a Master Mariner, involved
in a tragedy off the Suffolk coast.
The Fishmarket Lowestoft c1899
Based in Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich and Lowestoft, the Suffolk Record
Office holds an amazing range of information about the history of
Suffolk and its people. Whatever aspect of Suffolk you want to look
into, the record office contains all kinds of material that is
there to help you just like it helped David. Some of the records go
back to the 12th century, but not everything is old. You’ll also
find items from recent times relating to individuals and a wide
range of organisations. We preserve them all from parchment to
CDROMs in order to make them accessible to you.
If your Suffolk ancestors worked at sea then the Lowestoft and
Ipswich Record Office teams will be able to advise you how you too
can find out more about them.
It was not until the early 1800s and the formation of the Registrar
General of Shipping and Seaman that the central recording of
information relating to seamen was introduced. Since the mid-19th
century few groups of people have been so well covered by official
records as seafarers. However until recently, it’s been difficult
to find and use these records, as they’re scattered in so many
places. Now, on-line indexes and catalogues are making research
easier for those whose ancestors worked on merchant vessels and
fishing boats.
Official records of seafarers before 1860 are mainly in The
National Archives in London. Under the Merchant Shipping Act 1835,
all British-registered ships of 80 tons or more employed in coastal
trade or fisheries had to carry an agreement made with every seaman
employed, recording conditions and duration of employment. After
the voyage, the master sent these agreements to the Registrar
General of Shipping and Seamen. Ships sailing in British coastal
waters filled in crew lists every six months, recording all the
crew who had sailed during that time. For voyages outside coastal
waters, there would be one agreement per voyage.
The Suffolk Record Office branches in Ipswich and Lowestoft have
Crew Agreements for the years 1863-1913 for the ports of Ipswich,
Woodbridge and Lowestoft. There are indexes to these, in which you
can look up the names of seamen and of the masters and owners of
vessels. If you find the names you are looking for, we can produce
the original documents for you to see. These will tell you each
crew member’s name, age or date of birth, where born, dates of
signing on and off, position on the ship, and the name of the
previous ship he was employed in, as well as information on the
ships and their voyages.
Fishing Fleet in Lowestoft Harbour c1904
You can also search the online census returns 1861-1901 free of
charge in any branch of the Suffolk Record Office or any Suffolk
Library using the Ancestry Library Edition, to tracing seafaring
ancestors.
The Record Office can also help if you are interested in the
history of a particular ship your ancestor may have sailed on or
owned as Registers of Vessels give owners’ and shareholders’ names,
and details of changes of ownership. The Lowestoft Record Office
holds these for Port of Lowestoft from 1855-1993. They are
searchable by vessels’ names and by port registration number. A
ship’s name can be changed by its owners whenever they want. Many
ships undergo one or more changes of name but these are recorded in
the registers of vessels.
You can also search for a ship by its Official Number (ON). This is
given to it when it is first registered and it keeps this
throughout its life, making tracing its history easier. Each port
recorded the ONs it issued in Appropriation Books. Lowestoft Record
Office has these books from 1888-1990 and Ipswich Record Office the
books from Ipswich 1901-1994.
Each ship also has a Port Registry number. This is given to it in
the port where it is registered. The Port Registry number is
preceded by two letters indicating the port where it is registered:
e.g. LT for Lowestoft. The Port Registry number can change during
the course of a vessel’s lifetime, as it can be re-registered in a
different port if it is sold to new owners.
The Lowestoft Record Office also looks after the collections of The
Port of Lowestoft Research Society, which include information on
most Lowestoft-registered ships; using these it is often possible
to trace the history of a vessel from when it was launched to when
it was broken up or lost at sea. During the World Wars, some
Suffolk fishing boats and their crews were lost as they were
commissioned into the Royal Navy for anti-submarine and
minesweeping duties.
Who Do You Think You Are? -
Past
stories
Jeremy Paxman
Clive Paine former Advisory Teacher Archives, local historian,
author and lecturer shows Jeremy Paxman the Overseers of the Poor
records for the parish of Framlingham, which detail ‘out-relief’
payments made from the poor rates to support his great-great-great
grandfather’s family. Thomas Paxman was a poor shoemaker,
whose income fluctuated according to the season. Other
records provided evidence of the family’s assisted migration from
Framlingham to Farnworth near Manchester in 1836 in the hope of a
better life, to work in the mill of J R Barnes and Sons, which were
crying out for labourers. The whole family, Thomas, his wife
Jane and their children Benjamin, Thomas, Jane and Louisa were
employed in the manufacture of cotton and fustian. The
Paxman’s travel was organised by the Poor Law Union
authorities. They were allowed to take with them their
clothing and bedding and travelled north via London on a barge on
the Grand Union Canal with other families – a journey of 2-3
weeks.
Between 1835 and 1837 over 2,000 paupers; men, women and children,
were sent from Suffolk and ‘migrated’ to work in the woollen and
cotton factories in Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cheshire. The
factory owners were especially keen to gain the labour of the women
and children, as their hands were more suitable for millwork being
more nimble and dextrous than those of agricultural labourers.
Stephen Fry
Some research was carried out by the Bury St Edmunds Record
Office searchroom team for the programme on Stephen Fry’s broadcast
on His maternal family is Jewish, from a small town in Slovakia,
formerly Hungary, called Šurany. Steven follows the life of
his maternal grandfather Martin Newman; his early life in Šurany,
how he came to Britain; his activities during the First World War,
how he met his wife in Vienna etc. Martin was the
agricultural expert at the new sugar beet factory built in Bury St
Edmunds in 1925, which was financed by Tate & Lyle and the
Hungarian United Sugar Corporation. The family lived in a
number of houses in Bury. At the factory he worked alongside
Dr R Jorish the husband of local author Nora Lofts.
Who do you think you are? - further help
- To find out more about how the Suffolk Record Office can help
you trace your family
Tracing your family history
- Why not book one of the 'Find out about your ancestors'
sessions at your nearest record office branch. These
introduce you to the records used initially in your research such
as parish registers and census returns.
Find out about your ancestors... sessions