Every Family has a story to tell……….Welcome to mine
On 17th August, 1940, six brave men from the Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal team sadly lost their lives trying to defuse a bomb in the fields around Nantwich in Cheshire, and this is their story......... Thanks to the work and knowledge of local historian, Andrew Lamberton, I was made aware of the story of the … Continue reading Danger UXB – The Story of Six Brave Royal Engineers Who Died at Nantwich
A few years ago I was fortunate enough to visit the National Arboretum in Staffordshire, which holds over 300 memorials to those lives that have sadly been lost in conflict and civilian life. The Arboretum stands as a place which honours the fallen and recognises their service and their sacrifice for their country. It was first … Continue reading My Visit to The National Memorial Arboretum
At the start of the Great War the population of Byford in Herefordshire, including children, was 148 and Mansell Gamage 116, giving a total of 264 inhabitants. 51 young men enlisted from the two villages and 13 of those sadly died. The others returned, but life would never be the same for any of them, … Continue reading A Family at War (Part 2)
WW1 touched the lives of millions of families, both at home and across the Empire, with families suffering irreconcilable grief and loss, many families never fully recovered. So many young men volunteered at the outbreak of War, to do "their bit" for King and Country, little did they know the full scale of the horrors … Continue reading No. 1 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station
At the outbreak of WW1, there was an ongoing debate about the best way to treat casualties from the front line. Opinion was divided, should you treat the casualty as close to the front line as possible, getting the wounded and injured men to surgery in the fastest possible time, whilst accepting that the operating … Continue reading Casualty Clearing Stations During WW1
Before the start of WW1, the British Army comprised of approximately 700,000 men of which 250,000 were regulars, 250,000 territorials and 200,000 reservists. By the end of WW1, it’s estimated that 8.7 million men and women had served in the British Army. So, the chances of you having an ancestor who served in WW1 is … Continue reading How to Research a WW1 Soldier
At the start of the Great War the population of Byford in Herefordshire, including children, was 148 and Mansell Gamage 116, giving a total of 264 inhabitants. 51 young men enlisted from the two villages and 13 of those sadly died. The others returned, but life would never be the same for them after their … Continue reading A Family at War (Part 1)
After the end of WW1 and the Paris was treaty was signed, the league of nations was formed with the basic function of maintaining world peace. Almost 20 years later and Europe was brought to its knees once more with the atrocities of War. This blog isn't an attempt to apportion blame or go over … Continue reading Was WW2 Inevitable?
Is today's modern warfare any different to the way in which we previously fought wars? Absolutely for me thats a Yes! Today's war, if you want to even call it war, is vastly different to previous wars such as WW1 or WW2. Trying to fight against the threat of global terror, or wars in Afghanistan … Continue reading How the mechanics of war have changed……..
So what do you think the future holds for us "Genealogists"? Where do we see the future of our hobby, record keeping and archives, or is there even a future? Anybody who has been researching their tree for around twenty years will never have envisaged how the shape of researching your family tree would look … Continue reading So What does the future hold?
The Chiddicks Family Tree 