Academics at war over BBC history series

(Thanks to Sheena Tait for the following story tip off via Twitter!)

It seems that its handbags at dawn as the academic community gets stuck into each other over the BBC's History of Scotland series. The full story is at www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/historians-are-at-war-over-old-fashioned-flagship-series-1.986573?localLinksEnabled=false.

The premise is that one academic is awfully upset at the main presenter, who is an archaeologist (and a "pygmy on a giant’s territory" apparently), but he's incredibly upset about another academic, who was rather upset about the series, etc etc!

Basically, a classic case of worthies at war over who would have made the series better if only they had been calling the shots.

Sigh...!

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk/
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton

Medical registers released on Family Relatives

From Family Relatives (www.familyrelatives.com) (abridged):

Familyrelatives.com today launched over one million records of Doctors, Dentist and Midwives spanning over 90 years from 1853 to 1943. The records provide a fascinating insight and invaluable resource to anyone researching the background of any family member who was a doctor, a dentist or midwife.

A dedicated team at Familyrelatives.com spent several months painstakingly scanning and indexing original medical registers allowing them to be searched on different criteria including surname, forename and date to provide one of the most comprehensive and accurate databases available.

The records pre-date the foundation in 1858 of the General Medical Council, set up in a back room of what is now the University of Worcester to protect, promote and maintain the health and safety of the community. Prior to 1858 anyone could call themselves a medical practitioner with some of the treatments worse than the disease and devices resembling ancient instruments of torture but it gave an insight into Victorian imagination and ingenuity. The years 1853 to 1943 saw remarkable developments in the field of medicine and notable medical practitioners:

John Snow (1813-1858) - Discovered Cholera
Joseph Lister (1838-1912) Discovered Carbolic Acid (Antiseptic)
Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) - His discovery saved 200 million people
Sir Ronald Ross (1857-1932) - Identified mosquitoes as the cause of malaria

Medical Records:

Medical Registers & Midwives Roll & Dentist
London & Provincial Medical directory 1853
Medical Register 1858
Medical Register 1878
Medical Register 1891
Medical Register 1896
Medical Register 1904
Nisbet's Medical Directory 1909
Nisbet's Medical Directory 1912
Medical Register 1913
Medical Register 1919
Midwives Roll 1920
Medical Register 1924
Medical Register 1926
Medical Register 1932
Medical Directory 1934
Medical Register 1938
Medical Register 1940
Medical Register 1943


Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton

1939 census update - appeal decision early December

I've just received news that it will be early December before the NHS Information Centre announces whether it will be appealing against the recent Information Commissioner's ruling with regards to the release of part of the 1939 National Registration census, for data concerning information on individuals now deceased who were enumerated (as broken on this blog on November 11th - see
http://scottishancestry.blogspot.com/2009/11/1939-nhs-census-to-be-made-available-in.html)

The BBC has also now picked up on the story today - see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8363341.stm

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton

Staffordshire gold valuation

The Anglo-Saxon gold hoard found in Staffordshire recently has just been valued at £3.285 million.

Still waiting to hear about the Stirling gold torcs!

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton

TNA closures at Kew

If you are planning to head south to Kew to do some research, the following from Simon Fowler's Ancestors magazine blog is worth taking a note of:

Over Christmas and the New Year, The National Archives will be closed from Christmas Eve to Monday 28 December 2009 and from New Year’s Day and 2 January 2010. All dates are inclusive.

Incidentally the Archives will be closed for Stocktaking between Friday 4 December and Tuesday 8 December

From 4 January The National Archives will be open five days a week (Tuesday to Saturday). Opening hours and document ordering times have been increased and will be: Wednesday, Friday and Saturday opening hours 9am-5pm (document ordering 9am-4.15pm); Thursday 9am-7pm (document ordering 9am-5pm). Find out more at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/visit/times.htm


Personally speaking, I just stepped out of the front door ten minutes ago into a blustering hail storm, walking across a sea of ice to reach my local shop, which is just two minutes away, to buy some gas and electric to top up my meters. Personally speaking, I am going nowhere until the sun returns to Scotland. In other words - I am now on weather strike!

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton

Irish gravestone inscriptions online

About 60,000 names can be searched on a new Irish Origins collection, sourced from Brian Cantwell's Memorials of the Dead, a record of monumental inscriptions obtained mainly within Wicklow, Wexford and southern Dublin, as well as Sligo, Clare, Cork, Galway and Kildare, between 1970 and 1990. The collection was previously published on CD by Eneclann in 2005.

From the site: "These transcriptions covered all visible and legible memorials in graveyards that had a date of 1880 or before and all surviving interior church memorials."

There's further information on the collection at www.irishorigins.com/help/popup-aboutio-motdcantwell2.htm.

(With thanks to Alan Stewart's Grow Your Own Family Tree blog.)

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton

Raising money for Parkinsons

Bryn Williams, a schoolfriend of mine from Carrickfergus in Northern Ireland, and now based in Glasgow, was diagnosed a couple of years back with Parkinson's. He has since been working flat out to raise money for various charities and organisations, both researching the disease and caring for sufferers. To date he has raised £96,859 - it would be great if SGNE blog readers could help to nudge that further towards the £100,000 mark!

Bryn's website is at www.wobblywilliams.com and any donation made by a British tax payer will also have added value through the Gift Aid scheme.

Many thanks,


Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton