SOG-UK-L Archives

Archiver > SOG-UK > 2001-10 > 1002011368


From: Barney Tyrwhitt-Drake <>
Subject: Re: [SoG] Sir Henry J Wood
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2001 09:29:28 +0100
In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.32.20010930164356.0085ecd0@POP3.demon.co.uk>


In message <>, Tim
Powys-Lybbe <> writes
>In message <>
> Barney Tyrwhitt-Drake <> wrote:
>
><snip>
>
>> Surely that is what we want in GM - articles that educate and inform us,
>> not instant pedigrees on a plate?
>
>An idle moment's curiosity has led me to wonder what was the thoughts of
>the founders of SOG, to see what they wanted. (The Genealogy of
>Genealogy, eh?) This started with some entries in Notes and Queries,
>that rather odd collection of miscellanies:
>
>In 1906 reference was made to a "Genealogical and Historical Society for
>Great Britain", founded in 1853 with an objective of, amongst others,
>collecting evidences of family descent and antiquity (N&Q, 10th S, vol
>IV, p.230). _Five_ years later a reply was made to this and mentioned
>large amounts of collected early ancestries of the fellows of the
>Society and several elaborate pedigrees (N&Q, 11th S, vol III, p.266).
>
>In 1909 there was a proposal to have a circulating library, whereby
>those who had bought books would lend them to those that hadn't (N&Q,
>10th S, vol XI, p.5). This got a speedy reply from "Leo C" (who must be
>Leo Culleton of Culleton's Heraldic Office, Piccadilly, London)
>objecting to lending valuable volumes with the risk of loss and
>recommending extra subscribers to the London Libary to cause them to
>start a Genealogical Section (N&Q 10S, vol XI, p.78).
>
>In 1910 there was a report on a project to preserve national archives
>and records of the Civil Service (N&Q 11S, vol I, p. 286). Another
>rapid reply wished to extend this to genealogical memoranda, similar to
>the US New England Historic genealogical Society and was particularly
>concerned about losing people's researches when the died (what will
>happen to yours, Barney?); the writer asked Mr C A Bernau to give his
>opinions (N&Q, 11 S, vol I, p. 337). Mr C A Bernau indeed replied a
>month later (N&Q, 11S, vol 1, p. 401) and recommended that the Society
>be formed to:
>
> 1. Purchase genealogical works of reference.
>
> 2. Be a depository for members researches and collections, at the end of
> their working lives.
>
> 3. Hold examinations for people wishing to qualify as authorities in
> genealogy.
>
> 4. Not use its funds on dinners or excursions :-)
>
> 5. Produce publications from time to time.
>
>This led to the formation of the Society of Genealogists in 1911,
>acknowledged in their opening report.
>
>The purposes originally set for the society can be seen by the wealth of
>committees they formed:
>
> 1. Collecting manuscript genealogical works.
>
> 2. Collecting old deeds, charters and wills, etc.
>
> 3. Constructing a consolidated index of people and places and informing
> members of anything related to their family or researches.
>
> 4. An index of the contents [apparently] of all principal reference
> books.
>
> 5. A heraldry team to rework Burke's General Armory.
>
> 6. Catalogues of pedigrees in any public collection.
>
> 7. Recording monumental inscriptions.
>
> 8. Collecting lists and indexes of all parish records and marriage
> licences (C A Bernau was on this).
>
> 9. Collecting lists of apprentices, pupils at schools, etc.
>
> 10. Collecting fly-leaf inscriptions on family bibles.
>
> 11. Recording movements of people overseas and changes of residence.
>
> 12. Collecting lists of local authority records.
>
> 13. Keeping in touch with family associations, (as in the Stockdills,)
> etc.
>
>
>What fascinates me is that these various committees reported back to the
>annual general meeting each year so that the members had some idea of
>what was going on. The minutes of our last general meeting give no
>indication of any work being done at all.
>
Thanks Tim for a fascinating insight.
>One notices that they did not have a Computers Committee.
>
Perhaps if Mr Charles Babbage had taken an interest before his death in
1871 this might have been different? And to answer your question above,
I donate my research in written form to the Society immediately and
instruct my family to donate the digital forms, when I finish them, to
the Society also. I have already donated my first written work to the
Library but was disappointed that it did not appear in the accessions
list and is not on the shelf under Smith** where it should be. We
clearly need to give members and others the assurance that the Society's
QA (Quality Assurance) and QC (Quality Control) systems are such that
this cannot happen in future.
>To return to Barney's point of what we want in the magazine, I suspect
>it is a broad church, with a bit of this, a bit of that and a bit of the
>other. The above provides a good list, one that members even busied
>themselves on (or not so busy in the case of the heraldry committee).
>Is it not time to review and extend this list to see what we have learnt
>in the intervening ninety years?
>
Well said Tim, you old radical! Fancy suggesting that genealogy should
get a mention at the AGM!

Perhaps Item 13. should be extended to keeping in touch with and
promoting the SoG to FHSs, which I think did not exist in 1911.

We did have a working party on setting standards for collecting
genealogical data on disk (in digital format), which produced an
excellent report (well it was composed almost entirely of members of the
former Computers Committee and reported through them...). It seems to me
that for the membership to hear in some detail of their activities at
the AGM is precisely what the founding mothers* and fathers had in mind.

* Margaret Emma (Daisy) Tyrwhitt-Drake (1883-1968) was an early member
of the Society. Known in the family for being more than a little
outspoken and eccentric, she had many endearing characteristics. She
took a bath every morning and only got out when she had completed 'The
Times' crossword, and she had a passion for cats. She named them all for
senior clerics she had met in her job as London Secretary of the Indian
Church Aid Society. As a small boy I recall being invited to meet Foss
Westcott. The Bishop of Durham who helped to settle the Miners' strike
of 1892 did not introduce himself but jumped onto the mantelpiece.

Apologies for introducing a bit of anecdotal family history.

** Yes I do have Smith ancestors, but they were from Yorkshire, so I
tend to keep quiet about it. We all have blots on the escutcheon, but
you'll be pleased to hear that great great uncle Joseph Harold Smith,
looking for an outlet for his ill-gotten gains in the Bradford wool
trade, did waste some of his money at the College of Arms and became
armigerous. The College of Arms, with the disdain for accuracy typical
of heralds, put a shuttle on his arms when he was a worsted spinner, not
a weaver... Welcome to the real world.
--
Barney Tyrwhitt-Drake

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