If you’ve just arrived here, it may be that you’ve missed the questions for the a Family History Quiz. If you want to participate, stop reading now, or you will find the answers to rounds 5 & 6 below. Just go to round 1 and return here when you’ve done those questions.

Just some answers for you today then.

Researching Women

1. When was the married women’s property act passed? 1882
2. Which women were given the vote by the UK legislation of 1918? Women over 30 who were householders or wives of householders.
3. What was the minimum legal age for the marriage of girls, with parental consent, in England and Wales in 1928? 12, although the age of consent had been 16 since 1885.
4. In what decade did Marie Stopes open her first birth control clinic? 1920s
5. In what decade did The Sex Discrimination Act remove restrictions on women’s financial rights, making it illegal for employers, banks, financial institutions and landlords to discriminate against women? 1970s.

All the answers in the above round come from my Putting your Female Ancestors into Context online course, If you want to focus on your female ancestors, the next presentation of this course starts in February. You can sign up here.

What do these abbreviations stand for?

1. b.o.t.p Both of this Parish
2. GRO General Register Office (I should disallow General Registry Office but hey it’s Christmas).
3. PRONI Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
4. d.s.p decessit sine prole (died without issue). You can have a mark without the Latin.
5. FWK framework knitter.

This may be the final blog for 2025, so Season’s Greetings to all and special thoughts for those who find this time of year difficult.