Social History Book Advent Calendar Day 9 and a bit about me

Dec9 by thehistoryinterpreter

A much more recently written offering behind today’s advent window: Rebecca Ridal’s 1666: plague, war and hellfire, which was published last year. This might be viewed as a history, rather than a social history but there is so much about everyday life in this volume, that I feel justified in including it. Although the title is 1666, the book starts with an account of the plague of the preceding year. Skillful use of contemporary sources introduces us to a turbulent eighteen months in London’s history and events that reverberated around the country. The account is presented from the viewpoint of key characters, the well-known and the less well-known. We meet Nell Gwynn, Samuel Pepys, Charles II, Christopher Wren and Isaac Newton, all names that evoke the atmosphere of the age. Others who walk across the pages of the book may not be household names, unless you have studied the history of the period. For example: Aphra Behn, playwright and spy; Cornelius Tromp, Dutch naval commander; Nathaniel Hodges, a physician and Thomas Vincent, who provides a Puritan perspective.

Most of us are familiar with plague and fire from our schooldays. The book also covers the Dutch Wars and the dawning of the scientific age. The fears of a still largely suspicious populous as they faced these disasters, disasters that most believed to be punishments from God, are portrayed well. The style is accessible and the book can be read as you would a novel. I could imagine myself walking through London’s streets as I read. Living as I do in the seventeenth century, I found this book fascinating. I wish this had been published when I was researching my own seventeenth century social history, Coffers, Clysters, Comfrey and Coifs, as there is an extensive bibliography, together with the endnotes, providing plenty of leads to follow up. There are also some attractive coloured plates and three maps in the printed version.

Yesterday I spent a slightly chilly day, with other authors, attempting to sell books to the local populace. I did duck out for fifteen minutes to take a look at an early twentieth century Magistrate’s Court record that was written in the most appalling handwriting I have seen – think the stereotypical prescription scrawl. If I say that it made my handwriting seem legible you may get the idea. Sadly the case I was looking for for Barefoot on the Cobbles was not recorded at all. Very strange, considering that it was heavily reported in the press. Today I have my non-conformist history hat on as I am off to address the Exeter group of Devon Family History Society about ‘Toleration or Turmoil?: English non-conformity and our ancestors’. This may not be quite what the audience are expecting but I hope they enjoy it. I am told there will be posh biscuits in honour of the festive season – great!

Social History Book Advent Calendar Day 7 Occupational Hazards

Dec7 by thehistoryinterpreter

On the seventh day of Advent I offer you a little-known gem whose title is longer than some of my blogs. It is a wonderful little book, first published in 1831, entitled The Effects of the Principal Arts, Trades, and Professions, and of Civic States and Habits of Living, on Health and Longevity: with Particular Reference to the Trades and Manufactures of Leeds and Suggestions for the Removal of many of the Agents which Produce Disease, and Shorten the Duration of Life.* Ok, so it isn’t the snappiest title in the world but it is a fascinating read. The author, Charles Turner Thackrah, covers many occupations that were common as Britain entered the industrial age and warns of the possible impacts on health. Thus we learn that: ‘Cattle and Horse Dealers, leading an active life in the open air, are generally healthy, and would be almost exempt from ordinary maladies, were it not for their habit of drinking. Wet and cold would rarely produce even temporary ailment to the temperate man in an employment so conducive to vigour. Horse dealers’ grooms or riders are a sickly set of men. Their appearance indicates those diseases of the stomach and liver which result from a debauched and irregular life.’ As you can see, the author is outspoken and his opinions are not devoid of stereotypes but this does not detract from the book. Having covered nearly 150 occupations, Thackrah’s conclusions have a certain political bias, ‘The disproportion of wages is a great evil in our system. The high wages allowed in some departments induce drunkenness and improvidence; while the low wages frequently given to weavers, wool-combers, burlers, milliners, roadmen &c., prevent a supply of proper nourishment.’

I first came across this classic volume when I was working on my online course ‘In Sickness and in Death: researching the ill health and death of your ancestors’ and it is has become a firm favourite. It will also feature in my ‘Occupational Hazards’ presentation, which I will be giving at the Secret Lives conference next year. Thackrah includes occasional case studies as footnotes: ‘A K Aged 23 entered the flax mill at 11 years of age. She was six years employed in the dusty departments. … She is of low stature and of a sickly appearance; she complains of pain in the right side of the chest…. Expectorated matter is sometimes tinged with blood.’ Sorry, should have been a gore warning there – hope no one is reading this while they are having breakfast. The book is indispensable for anyone who is interested in the history of medicine or the effects of industrialisation. It is also an insight into the hazardous nature of various jobs in an age before health and safety. Its rather quaint pre-Victorian phrasing and vocabulary adds to its charm.

* The link that I have included gives the volume an abbreviated title; this is currently the cheapest option I can find. I did pay appreciably less for my copy so it may be worth waiting or shopping around.

Social History Book Advent Calendar Day 6 – Going on a Witch Hunt

Dec6 by thehistoryinterpreter

As part of my seventeenth century life, I give presentations on the history of witchcraft. When I was researching the topic for Coffers, Clysters, Comfrey and Coifs: the lives of our seventeenth century ancestors, I read a number of excellent books on the subject. For the purposes of this advent calendar, I have chosen just one of them to share with you, Alan MacFarlane’s Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England: a regional and comparative study. If you are a family historian who has not a single example of a witch or a bewitched in your family tree, please don’t think this would not be relevant to you. This was the atmosphere of the time and it is important to understand this. Another author on the subject, Malcolm Gaskill, wrote ‘Witch-hunts involved not just savage persecutors tormenting innocent scapegoats, but ordinary neighbours with a close affinity to one another who also happened to believe in witchcraft powerfully enough to act out their most violent fantasies.’ (Witchfinders: a seventeenth century English tragedy) – see it is buy one get one free day today!

Today though belongs to MacFarlane’s work. This is not just an account of the witchcraft trials of the period. He discusses the sources that can be used, the social background and the conditions that contributed to an increase in accusations. He also looks at the various ways in which people attempted to counter-act witchcraft. The emphasis is on the notorious trials in Essex but these are set in a wider context and the background is applicable elsewhere. I am fascinated by the psychology behind witchcraft accusations and its similarities to today’s culture of bullying. I strive to understand what made people of the past act in a particular way under certain circumstances, so I found the section on the ideology of witchcraft and the anthropological interpretations a particularly valuable addition. There are maps, tables and black and white illustrations throughout the book.

As part of the talk that I give, I include a list of the known indictments for the county in which I am speaking. It was as I was preparing the Devon list, when I first gave this talk, that I spotted a name on the list that also appeared on my family tree. Joanna Elford was baptised in Mary Tavy, Devon in 1612. She was the sister of my 9 x great grandfather. Last week I took the opportunity to try to find out more. In 1671 Johanna or Joan Elford was accused of ‘laming and pining’ Alice Paynter (I presume that Alice was claiming that some form of paralysis and a sensation of being pricked were a result of being bewitched by Johanna). I have to admit that I was a little disappointed that Johanna got off, as this means less documentation. I still can’t be positive that it is the same Johanna/Joan Elford but it is a very unusual name. I am waiting to see if there is any further detail at The National Archives but it may be a long wait as I have no plans to visit in the immediate future. I could be tempted to base a novel round witchcraft accusations but I had better finish the current novel first!

Social History Book Advent Calendar Day 4

Dec4 by thehistoryinterpreter

Apologies for the late arrival of today’s contribution to the advent calendar. I have spent the last eighteen hours adding to the list of things I do not have wrong with me. Said list is now assuming the proportions of a three volume novel. Still the good news is that, although what I do have remains a mystery, I don’t appear to have anything sinister. I spent the whole of last night on a trolley in A & E and this afternoon raising the alarm when the woman in the opposite bed tried to pull her cannula out, something that occurred about every five minutes. This means I haven’t slept for 36 hours, so I hope I can be excused if I cheat a little with today’s social history book and use one of my own. I say one of my own; it has my name on the cover but it is really the work of eighty wonderful ladies.

Remember Then: women’s memories of 1946-1969 and how to write your own is what happens when you let eighty women spend a year and a half recording their memories of life in Britain throughout the pivotal period 1946-1969. This twenty four years was one of tremendous change in almost every area that they investigated. During this time, we moved from liberty bodices to mini skirts and from ration books to ready meals. We witnessed the emergence of youth culture, the comprehensive education system, conspicuous consumerism and a new wave of feminism; the Britain of 1969, was very different to that of 1946.

Very little additional research has been done, the women’s voices have been allowed to speak for themselves. Memories are just that and sometimes memory is fallible. Efforts have been made to check dates and facts but for the most part, the ladies’ accounts have been taken at face value. The aim was not to write a comprehensive social history but to give a flavour of the period from the view-point of those who lived through it. Even reading the first names of the participants takes you back to the classrooms of the 1950s.

The ladies described their homes and neighbourhoods, clothes, housework and food, education and work, health and childrearing, leisure and celebrations, as well as tackling more emotive subjects, such as relationships and attitudes. Over a hundred illustrations and a comprehensive timeline of events evoke the essence of the era. This book is much more than just a collection of women’s memories. At the end of each chapter is the brief that the volunteers were given when working on that topic. This can be applied to other time frames and will help the reader, male or female, to write reminiscences of their own.

The women who took part came from a variety of social, economic and geographic backgrounds. Some ladies went to boarding schools, some to grammar schools and others to secondary moderns. Some left school at fourteen, others have PhDs. Some are only children, others had large extended families and some grew up in care. The ladies were aged from 59 to 95, so some experienced this era as children, some as teenagers and others as married women with families. I wove together the words of this disparate group of volunteers, using direct quotations from their reminiscences wherever possible, to reveal this period, as seen through their eyes. The result is a many faceted perspective of life at the time.

The book allows those born after 1969 to gain an understanding of what life was like for earlier generations. This makes it valuable reading for those working with older people, as it can spark conversations and help to awaken memories. If you lived through this era yourself, you will find yourself exclaiming, ‘I remember that!’ on every page.

Social History Book Advent Calendar Day 3 and Coming up Trumps

Dec3 by thehistoryinterpreter

As regular readers will know, I am very keen on encouraging the younger generation to take an interest in history and heritage. One of the ideas in my booklet Harnessing the Facebook Generation: ideas for involving young people in family history and heritage* is to use family photographs to make Top Trumps cards. I thought, now that I have grandchildren who are old enough to play this, I would put the idea in to practice. There are available templates online but in the end I made up my own and I found 38 photographs of members of the family tree that could be used. I know I am fortunate to have so many pictures but they are rather one-sided, the vast majority coming from my maternal grandmother’s family. If you don’t have enough pictures you could always use pictures of where they lived or drawings (I did wonder about gravestones but maybe not for 3 & 4 year olds!). I decided not to limit it to direct ancestors, partly because then I wouldn’t have enough but also because I wanted to commemorate 4x great aunts who died childless and would otherwise have no one to remember them.

I did have some problems. The cards, are printed on paper and laminated as my printer won’t take card. This is not ideal and you can see through the backs of the cards but this doesn’t matter because of the way that the game is played. The cards are also a bit of a strange shape and it was incredibly difficult to get them all exactly the same size. It probably took me best part of a day to produce two sets. Yes, I could have gone to a pound shop and bought sets of Top Trumps but that would not be the same on so many levels.

We have yet to try these out with the target audience, as they will see the light of day at Christmas. I know in one case I shall have to somehow make the ancestors relate to robots – I am still working on that bit!

On the topic of Trumps – Twitter came up trumps yesterday. I was busy with the arrest scene in #Daisy aka Barefoot on the Cobbles and wanted to know what wording was used in a caution in 1919. I made a Twitter request and sure enough I woke up to eighteen responses including the answer! Incidentally, Daisy will soon have her own page on this website. As it is a ‘based on fact’ novel, I have a large number of old photographs of the characters and the landscape in which the story is embedded. I will be putting some of these online over the next few months – watch this space – well not exactly this space but the space on the website that doesn’t quite exist yet.

From my bookshelf today I offer you Sara Read’s Maids, Wives, Widows: exploring early modern women’s lives. This is a complete guide to how women lived in the period 1540-1740. It covers their day to day activities both domestic and cultural, employment, both paid and unpaid, childbirth and childrearing and much more. The author has used a wide range of contemporary sources in her research and there is a very useful bibliography. The book is illustrated with black and white plates. Inevitably, any social history of this period is relying on sources that tend towards the better off but nonetheless this is a wonderful book for family historians who want to bring their female ancestors to life, for historical novelists looking for background for powerful female characters or for those who just like to immerse themselves in the past. The Amazon link gives you the option of a quick ‘Look Inside’ preview – go for it. I predict that Alex in New Zealand – who is seeing how far through December she can get without buying one of my suggestions – may succumb at this point. There may well be another offering from Sara Read behind a later advent ‘window.’

(Available from me, from the publishers or as an ebook. It is also available via UK and Canadian outlets.)

Social History Book Advent Calendar Day 2 and a bit about Christmas trees

Dec2 by thehistoryinterpreter

It seems I should have issued a Government Health Warning, so I will remedy that today. If as a result of ‘opening’ my advent calendar, your book budget plummets and your book shelves bulge – I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY. Clear?

Today’s offering is Kate Adie’s Corsets to Camouflage: women at war. Former war correspondent, Kate Adie, looks at the contribution of British women to the war effort, principally but not exclusively, in the two world wars. She covers not only the armed forces but nurses, land girls and munitionettes. Her own experiences reporting on the gulf war conclude the book. I particularly like the personal touches, when the author reveals snippets of her own family history to illustrate situations or outlooks. The book is illustrated with some not very clear black and white photographs of women involved in conflict at the beginning of each chapter and some much better plates in colour and black and white. This is not just a book about warfare, it is an important contribution to women’s history and an account of changing attitudes to women in traditionally male roles.

So this week I have been decorating the Christmas tree. I know this seems early but my decorations will be abandoned straight after Christmas and I wanted to get my money’s worth. Regular readers will know that my Christmas decorations hold a special significance for me and may also remember the awful incident two years ago when I thought I had lost them. Fortunately no such trauma this time. The tree may be a little smaller than the ideal – it fitted in the room without difficultly but I am please to have it there. I also assembled the History Group’s entry for the village Christmas tree competition. Last year our entry won a prize but this year groups have seriously upped their game and some entries resemble a Harrod’s window display. My excuse for our somewhat low-key effort is that we’ve been spending time on history group activities instead; nonetheless we wanted to be support the event. It is the taking part and all that.

Social History Book Advent Calendar Day 1 and a bit about Medical Procedures

Dec1 by thehistoryinterpreter

It is December, my descendants have snow, so it must be time for something seasonal. Last year I shared some of my favourite historical novels in my blog ‘advent calendar’; this year it is the turn of non-fiction. Family historians, historical novelists and history fans in general need to immerse themselves in the past; these are books that help you to do just that. For the next twenty four days I will share with you a book that has helped me to evoke a past era. I have just pulled volumes from my bookshelves, so the historical periods will be varied and the choices eclectic. Some of the posts will be very brief and they will be interspersed with other randomness but here goes.

Today’s offering is Dorothy Hartley’s Food in England: a complete guide to the food that makes us who we are. The book was first published in 1954 but unless you are interested in food history in the later twentieth century, this does not matter. The fact that it is still in print underlines the value of Hartley’s work. If you want to know what we used to eat and how it would have been cooked here is a substantial 676 page volume that will come to your aid. There is a chronological thread throughout the book, beginning with the contribution of the Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans to our diet. There are line drawings to illustrate, amongst other things, cooking methods, breeds of sheep and techniques, such as scalding a pig. In addition there are plates showing kitchens an dining through the ages. There are also chapters on various groups of ingredients, including meat, vegetables, bread, dairy produce and drink. It is no secret that my culinary ‘skills’ are minimal and that I have no interest whatsoever in food preparation in the present. I do however find historic cookery fascinating. So although this is a book that the cooks amongst you will enjoy, it is also valuable if you want to know what your ancestors ate and how they would have prepared it. If you are an historical fiction writer and you want to make sure that the characters in your novel aren’t eating an anachronistic meal or if you are staging an event that involves period food, this book is highly recommended.

In other seasonal news, I thought that I would relate the saga of the flu injection. I am officially too young for this – just thought I’d make that point – but various health weirdnesses mean that I get invited by a disembodied, automated voice to have a needle jabbed in my arm. In fact no one seems to have told said automaton that I have actually now had my injection, as she is still ringing me up at various intervals. I digress. My appointment is for 10.41. I turn up at 10.30 to be told that the staff are about to have their coffee break but I can be booked in. ‘Booking in’ involves a tick being put against my name and being handed a piece of paper listing potential nastinesses associated with said injection. I sit down and the receptionist disappears for her caffine fix. A man comes to sit in her place. I have no idea of his rank but clearly most things are above his pay grade. He spends the next fifteen minutes repeating 30-40 times ‘I can’t book you in please take a seat and wait. The receptionist will be back in 15, 14, 13 (whatever) minutes. What is so difficult about ticking a name and handing over a piece of paper? Is the receptionist’s union going to object if someone usurps her role? It can’t be a data protection thing because everyone is here for a flu injection and they all go to reception and give the chap their name. Why have a person there at all? Why not just write a notice? During the next fifteen minutes forty people enter the surgery and no one leaves. The patients’ nearest and dearest, sat in cars outside, must be wondering if we are all being swallowed up in some vaccinatory black hole. I begin to feel quite sorry for the guy on the front desk. In the end the ‘audience’ are giggling hysterically as he repeats his message, using exactly the same words and intonation, for the umpteenth time. The joys of getting old.

Songs, Books and other Daisy News

Nov19 by thehistoryinterpreter

Well what a wonderful weekend it has been. Firstly, Friday night when my friend Liz Shakespeare visited Buckland to share her story of Edward Capern The Postman Poet. Edward, who penned some of his work sitting in what is now my kitchen, wrote songs as well as poems and Liz was accompanied by Nick Wyke and Becki Driscoll who played for us in appropriate style. Add to that the excellent food and a great evening was had by all.

Saturday afternoon’s interesting Devon Family History Society meeting saw Philip Browne talking about ‘The Unfortunate Captain Peirce and the Wreck of the Halsewell East Indiaman.’ I am afraid that this well-presented session, with its account of some painstaking research got rather lost in the other excitements of my weekend. Definitely worth checking out the book of the talk.

Daisy and Hollyhocks The first draft of the cover for Barefoot on the Cobbles aka #Daisy has been done. It isn’t quite ready to meet its public yet but I am very pleased with it – thank you Blue Poppy Publishing. It does however, thanks to Clovelly Archive, incorporate this photograph. Having a cover somehow makes it all seem more real.

The equally brilliant news is that Barefoot has a companion song! A few years ago, I was commissioned to work on the history of a local shipping disaster that took place in Clovelly in 1838. This resulted in a meeting with Princess Ann but I digress. My brief was to trace the descendants of the victims. This was harder than it sounds as many were young unmarried men. In the course of the research I got to know Dan Britton, whose family members were amongst the victims. He wrote a haunting song The Storm about the tragedy and this became the title song on an excellent album Safe Harbour, which Dan, together with the other half of his duo, Chris Conway, launched last year. A few weeks ago, Dan got in touch with a family history query and I said I was working on a novel that was partly set in Clovelly. Almost as a throw away line I suggested that this too might make a song. I sent a brief synopsis along the lines of ‘it is about a murder, motherhood, the Devon landscape, a shipwreck, the women’s suffrage movement, WW1, the death of a child, oh, and a few lighter moments.’ I also sent a couple of draft chapters. Almost within minutes came back some incredible lyrics. The uncanny thing was that somehow Dan had included hints of things that I was intending to write but hadn’t actually told him about.

At a concert last night I heard Daisy’s song performed live for the first time. I thought I was going to cry but I managed not to. We are not yet sure where this will lead but Dan says that this might be the start of a new album for Chris & Dan and we have spoken briefly of the possibility of a joint launch next year. I think it is a case of watch this space. I would also like to pay tribute to Liz Shakespeare for being unfailingly supportive and generous, despite the fact that I do seem to have inadvertently pinched her idea for a literary/musical collaboration.

The word ‘launch’ in the preceding paragraph is a sobering reminder that I do actually need to have something to launch! With this in mind, I have sort of half-heartedly been playing along with the NaNoWriMo November novel writing challenge, which is supposed to encourage people to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. I suspect that I could probably write 50,000 words in a month if a) I did nothing else at all and b) I wasn’t too fussed about the quality. The month began well and I did 4000 words in five days but I have now slowed to a more manageable rate and am probably accomplishing an average of 500 half decent words a day of the novel. I am slightly distracted by writing things like blogs. I guess if I counted other writing I would be coming close to the 50,000 words in a month target. I would also probably get on faster if I didn’t spend so much time counting words! It has at least meant that the pretty much finished sections of Daisy are now nearing the half way mark. Remember this week’s Victorian privy research? In the course of this, I discovered that today was world toilet day. Seriously doubting that this is really a thing but Twitter says it is, so it must be so. (PS Yep. It’s a thing. It is to encourage folk to think of those in the world without access to decent sanitation so it not only is a thing but a good thing!)

I am discovering the drawbacks of basing a novel on fact. I have just found out something new about the life of one of my main characters. I could re-write the best part of a chapter, a chapter I am quite pleased with, or I could just ignore it – still debating that one. As I write this, I am being told by one of my beta readers, aka a fisherman of my acquaintance, that I have donkeys carrying luggage down hill, when they would only carry it up. I feel some re-writes coming on.

By the way, on 8th December, I shall be with some other cool authory types in Green Lanes shopping centre, Barnstaple trying to sell some books that I have actually finished writing. Do come and say hello if you are local.

Now to fiddle about Tweeting because I decided that I wanted the Tweeted link to this post to be my 3000th Tweet #OCD.

The History Interpreter – Janet Few

Presenting and Preserving the Past

Social History Book Advent Calendar Day 6 – Going on a Witch Hunt

Social History Book Advent Calendar Day 2 and a bit about Christmas trees

Songs, Books and other Daisy News