Society of Genealogists

www.sog.org.uk

Old Herts 

Web Sites

Many web sites are continually being updated and it is impossible for me to monitor all these changes. You should therefore visit this web site to discover the facilities currently offered.

The Society of Genealogists is the UK's leading genealogical society and has an excellent library in Central London. It has not far from the London Metropolitan Archives and the Guildhall Library and if you are visiting London to research your ancestors you should include at least a day for searching in its collections - and possibly attending a lecture.

Members get The Genealogists Magazine, which contains interesting articles, details of recent library acquisitions, and news items.

If you have not already done so you should visit its web site to see what it currently has on offer.

July 2010

The Society celebrates its 100 anniversary next year and is currently planning to digitise many of its most frequently used records. A recent leaflet says:

One of our aims is to digitise our most frequently used records and collections to prevent any further damage and to ensure their preservation for future generations. The Bank of England will extracts, for example, date from 1717 to 1845 and were due to be destroyed before the Society salvaged them in 1985. These fascinating documents include extracts from the wills of Charles Dickens, The Duke of Wellington and Lord Nelson. This collection will be one of many that will be preserved by digitisation.

As well as making our records and collections available online we plan to make more educational material available such as the 200+ courses and lectures that we host each year. This will ensure that no one misses out on the chance to start or further their family research.

They are trying to raise money to advance such activities and for ways you can help, including becoming a Friend of the Society of Genealogists, see their web site.

Hertfordshire Genealogy News, 8th September, 2011

The September Issue of the Genealogists' Magazine includes a detailed article on the descent, by two different routes, of the Queen from John Walsh, who was buried at Leatherhead at the age of 84 and described in his will as "heretofore of Redbourn in the County of Herts." John Walsh's birth details are still unknown, but if you are descended from him you are a cousin of the Queen.  Additions to the Society's Library include Percy Ilott's Hertfordshire Stories, Plays and Poems, published in 1938.