West Country Genealogy Ring

This West Country Genealogy ring site owned by Terry Williams.

Important Please Read

The death of my Father & Mother at Derriford Hospital has meant that I have and will not be able to dedicate as much time to your needs as I have done in the past.

I need time to adjust but will be back.

Thank you, Terry

Plymouth & South West Devon

a Genealogical Miscellany

together with my

Williams Family History

Since 20 February 2000 you are visitor

Dedicated to my Mum, Dad and family

Arthur Williams 20^th October 1921 – 22^nd June 2002

Edith May Williams 21^st September 1921 – 28^th March 2006

Now Reunited

Arthur & Edith May WILLIAMS

Don’t forget to sign and view my Guestbook

· My Family Genealogy includes a link to a 1962 photograph with listings, taken of all the staff and students including myself at Widey Technical Secondary School, Plymouth, Devon, England

· My Gloucester links & The Royal Gloucestershire Hussars

· Roll of Honour, Plymouth civilian war dead 1939 -1945

Transcriptions

Red - online

Green - coming soon

· Plymouth Directories

1812 The Picture of Plymouth

1814 The Plymouth, Plymouth-Dock & Stonehouse General Directory

1823 Tourist’s Companion

1830 The Plymouth, Stonehouse and Devonport Directory

Includes Noblemen and Gentlemen’s Seats, Villages, Etc. This being a usefull guide to local place names of SW Devon & Cornwall

1836 Thomas’s Plymouth Director

1847 Williams’s Commercial Directory

1857 M. Billings Directory of Plymouth, Stonehouse and Devonport

1864 – 5 Directory of Plymouth, Stonehouse, Devonport, Stoke, and Morice Town

1873 The Three Towns’ Directory for Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse

1888 Plymouth, Devonport & Stonehouse

1896 Plymouth and Devonport

1906 – 7 Post Office Directory of Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse. Also districts within a radius of 8 or 9 miles around the Three Towns (Devon & Cornwall)

1915 – 16 Post Office directory of Plymouth and District. Also the districts within a radius of 8 or 9 miles around Plymouth (Devon & Cornwall)

High Street, Plymouth, from Plymouth Directory 1885 & 1910 –11

· Devon Directories

1850 (White) History Gazeteer & Directory of Devonshire Bere Ferris, Bere Alston, Bickleigh and Zeal Monachorum

1873 Kelly’s Directory of Devonshire Beer Ferris, Bere Alston, Belstone and Berry Pomeroy

1878 Harrod’s Royal County Directory of Devonshire Bere Alston

Useful Links and relevant articles

· General

· Devon

· South West Devon

· Plymouth

Cemeteries

Data

Churches

History

Maps

Media

Military

On line Parish Clerks

Personalities of the past

Pictures & Prints

Research

Societies & Clubs

Webcam

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My Family Genealogy

Dynamic Family Tree Java Applet

include

WILLIAMS, BAILEY, FENNEL and HATTON of Gloucester area

My Gloucester links & The Royal Gloucestershire Hussars

WILLEY of Plymouth Devon and Isle Brewers Somerset

RIGGS of Southwest Devon

SPRAGUE of Bere Ferrers and Plymouth Devon

STEPHENS of Mabe Cornwall

MITCHELL of Torrington Devon and Pontypridd Glamorgan

WILLS and PARFITT of Pitcombe, Preston and Weymouth (Dorset/Somerset)

FETERIDGE of Co Antrim? Northern Ireland, and Glasgow Scotland

FINDLAY of Angus Scotland

1959 - 1988 Widey Technical Secondary School, Plymouth, Devon, England a 1962 photograph with listings, taken of all the staff and students including myself at Widey Technical Secondary School, Plymouth, Devon, England

Guild of One Name Studies GOONS

One name researchers relevant to my family Interests

· RIGGS

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Roll of Honour, Plymouth civilian war dead 1939 – 1945

Acknowledgement

Details kindly supplied by Plymouth Local Studies Library

Introduction

The DUTY of recording the names of the civilian war dead of the British Commonwealth and Empire was entrusted by Royal Charter, in February 1941, to the Imperial War Graves Commission. These volumes contain the Roll of Honour of those civilians, citizens of the Commonwealth and Empire, who were killed in the United Kingdom by enemy action during the I939-I945 War, while engaged in household or in business activities, or at their posts as members of the Civil Defence Services. Their graves are scattered throughout the country.

On this Roll of Honour appear some 60,000 names: over 19,000 for London alone. The first German bombs to be dropped on Britain fell on the Shetland Islands in the autumn of 1939; the last V2 rocket landed at Orpington in Kent on 27th March, 1945. Between these dates fell more than 100,000 tons of air missiles of all kinds, killing over 60,000 civilians and seriously injuring a further 87,000. Deaths occurred in people’s homes, in offices and factories, in schools and in public vehicles, in air-raid shelters and in the open country. The lists include the names of members of the Peerage and of the humblest labourers, of housewives and of children, of an infant only eleven hours old and of a Chelsea Pensioner over a hundred years old. Sometimes whole

families were wiped out together; sometimes an only child was taken and the parents were left to mourn, or parents were killed and a helpless infant spared.

The large centres of population suffered very heavily. London was a target of the first importance, and all the London boroughs show long casualty lists, dating from the days of the Battle of Britain, the subsequent period of almost nightly raids culminating in that of 10th May, 1941, the sporadic raids, sometimes heavy, by piloted aircraft thereafter, and finally the flying bombs and rockets of I944-I945. Other places in south-eastern England shared London's ordeal, Dover and the neighbourhood suffering the additional trial of long-range shelling from the French coat.

The first industrial town to be struck at was Middlesbrough, in May 1940; but the first full-scale attack on a provincial city was that which smashed the centre of Coventry in the night of I4th November, 1940. Most of the great cities, ports and manufacturing centres suffered in their turn, some from only one or two devastating attacks, others from frequent heavy raids. The list includes the Medway towns, Portsrnouth, Southampton, Plymouth, Merseyside, Belfast, Clydeside, Hull, Bristol, Birmingham, Leicester, Nottingham, Manchester, Sheffield, Newcastle-upon-Tyne --- besides the victims of the so-called "Baedeker raids": Bath, Exeter, Norwich, Canterbury, Cambridge, York. Many coastal towns, small and large, suffered from hit-and-run raiders. Even the remotest village was not perfectly secure; the first fatal casualty on land, in March, 1940, was in the Orkney islands; others are recorded at Land's End and in the Scilly isles.

To a greater degree than ever before, the I939-I945 War involved not merely armies, but entire nations. The names of individuals mean little save to those who knew and loved them and mourn their loss, and the number of those who mourn will dwindle as the years pass by. But it is fitting that these names should be enrolled in Westminster Abbey, at the heart of the Commonwealth and among the most illustrious of the Nation's Dead, in commemoration of their suffering and a tribute to their sacrifice.

Number of civilians killed

· 1940 – 72

· 1941 – 926

· 1942 – 2

· 1943 – 85

· 1944 – 20

· 1945 – 0

· 1946 – 2 (Died)

At present scanned images only

Surname
Abell - Andr	Andr - Barr	Bart - Bick	Bill - Boun	Boun - Bunt
Bunt - Chil	Chop - Coll	Coll - Cros	Cros - Davi	Davi - Dibl
Dick - Edge	Egli - Fitz	Fitz - Gerr	Gibb - Goul	Goul - Hale
Hall - Harr	Harr - Hill	Hill - Huds	Hunk - Kell	Kell - Lewi
Lewi - Mchu	Mcke - Maxw	May_ - Moor	Morg - Nort	Nort - Osgo
Oven - Pear	Peek - Pick	Pick - Rend	Rend - Rund	Russ - Sell
Semm - Smit	Smit - Stan	Stan - Tayl	Thom - Trot	Trot - Walk
Wall - Week	Welc - Will	Will - Wonn	Wood - Youn

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Transcriptions

Plymouth Directories

· 1812 The Picture of Plymouth

Alphabetical list of inhabitants, Plymouth, Plymouth - Dock, Stonehouse, Stoke

· 1814 The Plymouth, Plymouth-Dock & Stonehouse General Directory

Alphabetical Names and Residences of the Principal Inhabitants of these Towns.

With Neighbouring Nobility and Gentry, also Boarding Schools

· 1823 Tourist’s Companion

being a guide to the towns of Plymouth, Plymouth – Dock, Stonehouse, Morice Town, Stoke

Alphabetical list of the Principal Trade – People

· 1830 The Plymouth, Stonehouse and Devonport Directory

Includes Noblemen and Gentlemen’s Seats, Villages, Etc. This being a usefull guide to local place names of SW Devon & Cornwall

· 1836 Thomas’s Plymouth Director

Alphabetical list of inhabitants

· 1847 Williams's Commercial Directory of Devonport, Plymouth, and Stonehouse

Alphabetical list of the Principal Trade - People

· 1857 M. Billings Directory of Plymouth, Stonehouse and Devonport

Alphabetical list of Nobility, Clergy and Gentry, etc

Alphabetical list of Professions, Trades, etc

Due to the quality of the originals, Classification of Professions, Trades etc, has also been added so as to enable a certain amount of cross referencing

· 1864 – 5 Directory of Plymouth, Stonehouse, Devonport, Stoke, and Morice Town

Alphabetical list of inhabitants

· 1873 The Three Towns’ Directory for Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse

also of Stoke, MoriceTown, Ford, Torpoint, Saltash, Plympton St Maurice, Ridgeway, Tamerton Foliot, Turnchapel, and Oreston

Alphabetical list of inhabitants, some Commercial. Saltash is listed by roads

Places of worship in the Three Towns

· 1888 Plymouth, Devonport & Stonehouse

Alphabetical Private Residents & Commercial

· 1896 Plymouth and Devonport District Directory

Alphabetical Private Residents & Commercial

· 1906 – 7 Post Office Directory of Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse also districts within a radius of 8 or 9 miles around the Three Towns (Devon & Cornwall)

· 1915 – 16 Post Office directory of Plymouth and District also the districts within a radius of 8 or 9 miles around Plymouth (Devon & Cornwall)

· High Street, Plymouth from Plymouth Directory 1885 & 1910 – 11

Alphabetical list of inhabitants

Devon Directories

· 1850 (White) History Gazeteer & Directory of Devonshire

Scans 1 2

Bere Ferris, Bere Alston, Bickleigh and Zeal Monachorum

· 1873 Kelly's Directory of Devonshire

Beer Ferris, Bere Alston, Belstone and Berry Pomeroy

· 1878 Harrod's Royal County Directory of Devonshire

Bere Alston

· Val Hendersons South West Devon Towns and Villages

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Useful links

I have no personal interest’s in any commercial sites but feel some have much to offer

General

· Two interesting scanned articles describing what surgery meant for our ancestors

From agony to Anaestesia 1 2 3

& A patient with a grisly tale

Kindly reproduced from Awake Nov 22, 2000

Weekend Dec 30, 2000

· Search the National Archives Search the National Archives

· Map of UK today

· The Francis Frith Collection a photographic archive of over 7,000 towns and villages taken between 1860 & 1970

· Federation of Family History Societies

· FreeBMD FreeBMD stands for Free Births, Marriages, and Deaths. The FreeBMD Project's objective is to provide free Internet access to the Civil Registration index information for England and Wales

· Archaic Occupations

· The Naval and Maritime Libraries and Archives Group Guide to Collections & Contacts

· Maritime and Naval Museums in Britain and Ireland lists about 275 museums and museum-ships in Britain and Ireland

· Applause South West Applause South West is a digital exploration of theatre past and present

· The Jews of South-West England (ARCHIVED)

· West Country Poets are any related to you?

· Richards Church Albums, pictures of many UK churches especially in the South Western counties

· Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers Alphabetical Index and search facility linking to Street Maps of today showing the approximate location churches with towers with four or more bells. If you are simply interested in the Village / Town perhaps for tracing your family history, these maps may be a good start.

· The Workhouse much information regarding this subject

· IGI Batch Number - British Isles and North America

A very usefull site for searching the IGI

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often referred to as the LDS) has made the International Genealogical Index (the "IGI") available on the internet at http://www.familysearch.org and provided a very effective searching capability. However, it is not always easy to locate your ancestors (even if they are there in the IGI) using the search mechanisms provided at that site. This is because a search by last name only is not permitted unless you search within a single batch of records at a time or, at minimum, across the entire country (not even a single county let alone a town). If you have a rare name this might be OK but what if you are looking for Smith or Jones?

· Listing of Online Parish Clerks for the county of

Cornwall

Devon

· Map of Devon area today

· GENUKI: Devon Enter this part of a large collection of genealogical information pages for England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man.

· Devon 1891 Census Transcription Project contains online transcriptions available to date

· Etched on Devon's memory around Devon with early topographical prints views of landscapes, townscapes or buildings as well as some interior views Dedicated to the memory of John Somers Cocks

· Devon & Cornwall Constabulary a photographic history of the force

· Devon Historical Parish Populations (1801, 1851, 1901, 1931, 1961, 1971 and 1981)

· Devon Parish Finder

· The Devon Family History Society

· Devon Workhouses

· Devon Look-up Exchange

· Devon History & Museums

· Exeter Synagogue Archive

· The Doomsday Book Devonshire (ARCHIVED)

· Devonshire Parish Register Copies in the Library of the Society of Genealogists as of December 1994

· IGI Batch Numbers For Devon

· IGI Middle Name search (all of Devon)

· Devon History Society

· List of 800 Devon and Cornwall Mines by Heather Coleman 1999

· Shipwrecks around Devon and the world SUBMERGED productions

· Richards Church Albums

· Dartmoor Press “Genealogical, Family & Local History Guide Booklets & Indexes“

· The Keep ~ Military Museum of Devon and Dorset

The Devonshire Regiment, The Dorset Regiment, The Devonshire and Dorset Regiment, The Dorset Yeomanry, The Queen's Own Dorset Yeomanry, The Dorset Militia, The Royal Devon Yeomanry and 94 Field Regiment RA are all represented in the Keep Museum

· Seaton Museum The museum concentrates on the lower Axe Valley and also includes the adjacent villages of Beer, Axmouth, Branscombe, Colyton and Colyford. Specialist help can be given regarding the history of local families.

· Family History in IPPLEPEN offers a number of useful lookups

· LUPPITT Parish, Church, and People family trees and photos

· Cullompton Local history, pictures and more

· TIVERTON Museum is a museum of Social, Agricultural, Transport and Local History. Select link for research and Genealogy

· Westleigh North Devon Not far from the estuary, Westleigh sits on a hill overlooking the river Torridge with enviable views of the local countryside.

· Online Parish Clerks

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South West Devon

· Dartmoor Area War Memorials Online Indexes & Transcripts under Various Headings

· Map of Tavistock area today

· Bere Alston List of current Churches & former Churches and Chapels, each with their histories.

Francis Frith Photographs of Bere Alston

Modern map of Bere Ferrers/Alston

Bere Ferrers Station Walk (ARCHIVED)

· Lydford Church The Village of Lydford lies in the western part of the County of Devonshire, in beautiful countryside ideal for walks and relaxation, within the Dartmoor National Park. It is on the former stage-coach road between the towns of Okehampton (about 12 km to the north) and Tavistock (about 9 km to the south).

· The Tamar Smelting Works at Weirquay, in the parish of Bere Ferrers, Devon

· The medieval silver mines at Bere Ferrers a brief history

· Yelverton Local History Society The society was founded in 1982 to study the history of the following areas of West Devon, England

Buckland Monachorum, Clearbrook, Crapstone, Dousland, Horrabridge, Meavy, Milton Combe, Sampford Spiney, Sheepstor, Yelverton & Walkhampton

· Walkhampton Historical Notes (ARCHIVED)

· Roger Meyrick's Peter Tavy Page Parish Registers & Memorials look up, Index and Transcriptions

· Widecombe-in-the-Moor & District Local History Group

· South Devon Militia (ARCHIVED)

· Map of South Hams area today

· Parishes of the South Hams A collection of indexes, census transcriptions & MI's, plus a look-up service for church registers of many of the parishes in the South Hams district of Devon.

· Ashburton parish church

· Torquay Welcome to the world of Terry Leaman, his main hobbies are Genealogy and local history. His site consists of various pertinent entries from 19th Century directories, for Torquay, St Mary Church, Cockington etc. Plus an Index to the 1861 census for the Parish of St Mary Church. You will also find photos and information on of TORQUAY, plus some earlier photos of what the town was like in the late 1800's and early 1900's

· Brixham Heritage Museum Select Family History for many transcribed extracts from their database

· Plympton History (ARCHIVED)

· Staverton

· South Hams Family History Site (ARCHIVED) The site concerns itself with the South Hams area of Devon. You are able to search for families, individuals or places that have been listed. The transcription is as near to the original text as possible, but like any transcription it will contain some errors. Please note that this site is still being developed

· Devon Photographs (ARCHIVED) South Hams photographs

· Online Parish Clerks

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Plymouth

Census

· 1779 Devonport Dockyard Census

Cemeteries

· Weston Mill Cemetery, Plymouth Tel 44 01752 306104

Site Plan (Thumbnail) (Close Up)

· Efford Cemetery Plymouth Tel 44 01752 304837

· Plymouth, Devonport And Stonehouse Cemetery

Ford Park Cemetery Trust Ford Park Cemetery is a 34 acre Victorian cemetery close to the heart of Plymouth. Founded in 1848, it was for nearly 100 years the principal burial ground for the City. It is estimated that over ¼ million people are buried there

· Personal website of Brian Moseley of Plymouth, England, his family tree and the books and articles about Plymouth he has written over the years. Also his Plymouth Data for an encyclopaedia of information relating to Plymouth's past.

Churches

· Plymouth Synagogue (ARCHIVED) building completed in 1762

· Richards Church Albums Plymouth, under Devon Index

· Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers Alphabetical Index and search facility linking to Street Maps of today showing the approximate location churches with towers with four or more bells

History

· Devonport a website celebrating the Regeneration of Devonport, Plymouth (ARCHIVED)

· The History of Plymouth (ARCHIVED)

· Eggbuckland History Project information relating to the history of the local area

· The Eddystone lighthouses

· The History of Hartley Pleasure Grounds and Reservoir

Maps

· Map of Plymouth area today

· Street Map of Plymouth 1860

· Ye Olde Maps of Ye Plymouthe of Ye Merrie Englande another "ye content over ye style" web page from Steve Johnson Cyberheritage

· Moverley's Antique Maps

Media

· Local Newspapers

· Applause South West contains material from Plymouth Library's theatre archive and a number of other sources. It dates back to the mid 18th Century. Search for shows and performers or browse through the theatres. The results of your search will link to films, audio, text, images and other records

Military

· The Royal Citadel Plymouth

· Crownhill Fort – Plymouth This Palmerston fort built to defend Plymouth against attack from the north was built between 1863 and 1872 in response to the threat from Napoleon III of France. It is now in the care of the Landmark Trust.

Crownhill Fort web-site Palmerston Forts Society

· Plymouth's Napoleonic and Coastal Fortifications

· Devonport Dockyard and the Museum (ARCHIVED)

· The Naval Dockyards Society provides a forum for all those who have an interest in naval dockyards and associated organisations, including hospitals, victualling yards and Ordnance Board establishments. It is concerned with any aspects of naval dockyards: construction, history, workforce as well as the surrounding communities.

· Navy and Army military life 1900-1914 around Plymouth

· Royal Navy - a photographic A to Z of British Naval warships, submarines, and auxiliaries from 1880 to 1950`s

· Submarines of the Royal Navy (ARCHIVED) This is a list of the every submarine that has ever been commissioned into the Royal Navy with a few amplifying notes for each.

· Naval-History.Net Warships and their campaigns in the two World Wars (ARCHIVED)

· Ministry of Defence How to obtain Service Records, Medals and Information

On line Parish Clerks

· Stoke Damerel

Baptism lookups

Burial lookups

Plymouth Area post-1837 Church Marriages Middle Name lookups

Personalities of the past

· Plymouth Mayors/Lord Mayors

· Plymouth Armada Heroes The Hawkins Family

· Pat’s reading room - excerpts from “Hawkins of Plymouth” a new history by James Williamson.

The Hawkins Dynasty: Three Generations of a Tudor Family

Pictures & Prints

· Some early 1900 picture postcard views of Plymouth

· Aerial Photographs, Plymouth and surrounding area Site 1 additional Site 2

· Steve Johnson's CyberHeritage International A cornucopia of the past in pictures not to be missed

· At least 94 Francis Frith photos of Plymouth late 19^th and early 20^th century

· In and around Plymouth Plymouth today

· Some modern day pictures of Plymouth and surrounding areas

· Chris Robinson's Plymouth Prints a commercial site not to be missed for its local history Prints, Books and Video’s. Look under its Plymouth History heading for details of Pubs and their Landlords

Research

· Online Parish Clerks

· Plymouth & West Devon Record Office Records and archives

· Plymouth City Library Records and archives

Local and Naval Studies, Family history

Shipping

· Shipwrecks around (Plymouth Breakwater) Devon and the world SUBMERGED productions

Societies & Clubs

· Old Plymouth Society Home Page This Society is a local history society concerning Plymouth in Devon and its immediate area. It is not a family history/genealogy society

Webcam

· BBC Online - Spotlight - Plymouth Webcam Live view from Staddon Heights at the mouth of Plymouth Sound. At dawn it is pointed east to catch the sunrise, in the evening it is moved to catch the sunset. In between it may be pointing at traffic over the Laira bridge, people enjoying the sun on Plymouth Hoe, or ship movements in Plymouth Sound, especially on Thursdays when Royal Navy ships depart on exercise.
This photograph is updated every five minutes during daylight hours, Monday to Friday, and throughout the afternoon at weekends.

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Contact

Terry Williams t_williams@Bigfoot.com

Devon Family History Soc, Member No 8433

Last revised: Date 1 Apr 2006

Contents

My Family Genealogy

Guild of One Name Studies GOONS

Roll of Honour, Plymouth civilian war dead 1939 – 1945

Acknowledgement

Transcriptions

Includes Noblemen and Gentlemen’s Seats, Villages, Etc. This being a usefull guide to local place names of SW Devon & Cornwall

Useful links

· Personal website of Brian Moseley of Plymouth, England, his family tree and the books and articles about Plymouth he has written over the years. Also his Plymouth Data for an encyclopaedia of information relating to Plymouth's past.