Brett Payne's Family History Home Page

Brett Payne's Family History Home Page
A selection of material relating to my genealogical research

by Brett Payne
of Tauranga, New Zealand

Family Tree
A static, online family tree database that I created using GED2HTML in December 2001. Much further research has been done and many more discoveries made since that time, so it's now rather out of date. However, most of the basics are there.

More recently I have created and updated dynamic online family tree databases for portions of the family, hosted by TribalPages. To access these you will need a password, for which you will have to email me.

Miller & Brown families of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Leicestershire & Derbyshire
Binnie & Mansour families

I'm always very happy to provide more detailed, up-to-date information about selected branches of the family on request. My PicasaWeb Album contains some old family photographs but is mostly more recent stuff.

My Family History
Links to articles that I have written about, and material relating to, my family history research, listed roughly in chronological order for each family group.

PAYNE family

Peter Payne's Jug, 1829 - 175th Anniversary article (22 February 2004)
Henry Payne's childhood - Growing up in Woodville and the Workhouse, 1848-1857 (25 February 2001)
Sergeant Henry Payne - Henry's time in the West Bromwich Police Force, 1861-1864 (2 August 2003)
Fifty Years of Payne Journeys to North America, 1872-1921 (7 September 2003) - Introduction
Henry Payne in Virginia & Nebraska, 1872 (7 September 2003) - Henry loses his watch and chain on a farm
St Andrew's Middle Class School, Litchurch, Derby (10 June 2008) - Charles Vincent Payne and St Andrew's Middle Class School
Hardy's "Starbright" in Bottle, for Family Trade (28 April 2008) - The Payne family grocery and off-licence in St James' Road, Normanton, Derby
Coming to America (26 July 2007) - Henry & Henrietta Payne's attempt at a new life in America in 1880
Farming at Bladensburg in Maryland, 1880 (7 September 2003) - The climate does not agree with Henrietta's health
Transport contraption or tourist trap in St Malo? (31 October 2008) - Henry Payne's visits to St Malo in France, 1881-1882
More photos from St James' Board School (14 September 2008) - A school photograph of Charles Vincent and Charles Hallam Payne
Chicago, Pullman & the World's Fair, 1891-1892 (7 September 2003) - The Payne boys do America
Letter to America - A moment in the life of a young girl in late Victorian Derby (13 February 2009) - The childhood of Lucy Mary Payne (1876-1953)
Charles Leslie Lionel Payne - Early Childhood & Schooldays, 1892-1912 (18 July 2003) - Grandpa's childhood in Derby
St James' Board School, New Normanton, Derby (11 June 2008) - Charles Leslie Lionel Payne at St James' Board School, Normanton
Henry & Henrietta Payne of New Normanton (13 April 2008) - Digital colourisation of Henry & Henrietta Payne's 1898 portrait
Henry & Henrietta Payne – A "Noble" Life (13 April 2009) - The amazing story of my great-great-grandparents
Portrait of a young man in Derby, by Milton ... or perhaps Frost? (20 October 2008) - Probable ID of two portraits as Fred Payne (1879-1946)
CLLP's First Canadian Sojourn, 1912-1914 (18 July 2003) - Leslie Payne's adventures in Canada before the Great War
Enlistment in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, Winter 1914/1915 (18 July 2003) - Leslie goes off to the War
Leslie Payne with the CPR in Saskatchewan & Eatons in Winnipeg (7 September 2003) - Another account of Grandpa's adventures in Canada
Training in Kent, Summer 1915 (18 July 2003) - Leslie trains with the C.E.F. during the summer of 1915
His Lordship taking his rum ration (13 August 2007) - Leslie Payne training with the C.E.F. in Kent during the Great War, August 1915
The Continent & War (18 July 2003) - Leslie spends the winter of 1915/16 on the Western Front
At the Ypres Front with the C.M.G.C., Summer 1916 (18 July 2003) - Leslie and his friend Bud Willox join the Machine Gunners
The Blood Baths of the Somme, Autumn 1916 (18 July 2003) - Leslie's company fights at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette on the Somme
Canadian War Graves - Ed Pye and the 5th Canadian Inf. Bn. (3 September 2008) - A P/C photo from the Great War & its connection with Leslie Payne
Harold Victor Payne (1898-1921) of Derby & friends (13 June 2008) - Harold Victor Payne in the Imperial Machine Gun Corps, 1916-1919
CLLP in Winnipeg & back to England (18 July 2003) - Leslie's final years in Winnipeg
Lesley's final years in Winnipeg, 1919-1921 (7 September 2003) - Grandpa gives up on his Canadian adventures and returns to Derby
Amateur photo of a wedding group, 1926 (16 June 2008) - The wedding of Charles Leslie Lionel Payne and Ethel Brown
Dale Cottage, Ingleby, Derbyshire (27 October 2008) - Photographs taken of and at Uncle Hallam's house, 1929-2006
Sidewalk Photographers, Bournemouth & Great Yarmouth (15 March 2009) - Uncle Hallam and Aunt Sarah Payne's visits to the seaside, 1931-1938
Charles Hallam Payne, 1870-1960 (13 Nov 2008) - Uncle Hallam and Payne family graves at Church Gresley

MILLER family

James Miller (1815-1893) drainage contractor and brickmaker of Weston Underwood - The Story of a Down-to-Earth Family Heirloom (28-30 August & 16 November 2008) Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Conclusion
John Miller, Carrier of Weston Underwood (11 August 2008) - Discussion of a photograph of gg-grandfather John Miller driving his mail carriage
John & Eliza Miller of Weston Underwood (27 August 2008) - Discussion of two portraits of gg-grandparents John Miller and Eliza Sheales Newman of Weston Underwood

ROBINSON family

The gravestone of Charles Robinson of Derby, Nottingham Road Cemetery (30 October 2008) - Locating a family grave in Derby

BENFIELD, LUNN and PARKER families

Mary Ann Parker née Lunn (1852-1885) of Midway, Derbyshire (21 October 2008) - Probably the only surviving portrait of Aunt Sarah's mother

SMIT & SCHIPPER families

A charabanc excursion in the early 1920s (17 June 2008) - A trip to England made by my Dutch maternal grandparents, Dirk Smit and Hendrika Louisa Schipper

Miscellaneous Articles

Furs from Canada? (19 October 2008) - Clues in the identification of a photograph from the family collection
The Whitehead brothers of Derby (22 October 2008) - Friends of Charles Vincent Payne? Analysis of a group portrait
The proud owner of a motor vehicle (26 February 2009) - Attempt at an ID of an unknown old photograph from the family collection

Old Photographs, Photographers and Photography
Derbyshire Photographers & Photographic Studios
An ongoing study of 19th- and early to mid-20th Century studio photographers from the county of Derbyshire, England.
Victorian & Edwardian Portrait Collection
A selection of old photographs and albums from my own collection.
Photo-Sleuth
A series of blog articles about old photographs, photographers and their subjects. Some of these articles are duplicated on my mirror site at WordPress.

South Derbyshire Genealogy
South Derbyshire Genealogy Pages
Transcripts of genealogical resources relating to South Derbyshire, not just relating to my family. I devoted many hundreds of hours to this work in the past but have not added to the resources for a few years now. However, I still receive emails every week from those who have found the material of some use.
The South Derbyshire Graveyard Rabbit
Discovering the churchyards and cemeteries of South Derbyshire, and celebrating those who are buried in them. Another project that I haven't found a lot of time for, but which I hope to add to in due course.
Derbyshire Photographers & Photographic Studios
An ongoing study of 19th- and early to mid-20th Century Derbyshire studio photographers. This started merely as an index to Vistorian and Edwardian Derbyshire photographers and studios, compiled to assist in dating my own family photographs, and then put online to assist others with theirs. However, many family historians started sending me scans of their family photographs, and the project snowballed. I can't say that it's in any way definitive, because I still add newly discovered photographers to the list fairly often, but hopefully the vast majority of studios have been represented in some way.

The Great War
6th Brigade Canadian Machine Gun Company
Research and Transcripts of material relating to the Canadian Machine Gun Corps, in which my grandfather Charles Leslie Lionel Payne (1892-1975) served during the Great War.
Grandpa's War
A journal of my research into the experiences of my grandfather Charles Leslie Lionel Payne (1892-1975) as a machine gunner in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the Great War, presented in the form of a blog. Sadly, I've not added to this material for a while. I do intend to continue, particularly as I was able to visit the Western Front with my brother in October 2007, but other projects seem to have taken priority for the moment.