New JGFH article! Answers in the wind: using local weather studies for family history research by Malcolm Noble

4 Sep, 2017

New JGFH article! Answers in the wind: using local weather studies for family history research by Malcolm Noble

Ever wondered what the weather was like during your ancestors’ lives? Check out the new article from Malcolm Noble in The Journal of Genealogy and Family History and you may find out – and lots more besides…

Abstract: Records of local weather events are a neglected resource for historians wanting to explain family events and family patterns. In the UK, the collation of weather reports commenced in 1860, Gordon Manley’s work in the 1950s produced the Central England Temperature series from 1659, and the National Archive and National Meteorological Archive hold many individual records, including over a thousand private weather diaries. The family historian can use documents associated with the parish chest to support the investigative cycle of research, analysis, hypothesis and proof. With that method in place, explanations can be developed from accessible and easily understood sources. The process leads us towards a closer understanding of our ancestors’ relationship with their world – the weather is an experience which we share with them, and a broad awareness of the local climate can provide a means of ‘colouring in’ their lives.

See the article in full for free here:

http://www.qualifiedgenealogists.org/ojs/index.php/JGFH/article/view/35

 

 

Toni Sutton

2 comments

  1. Very interesting. Thank you Malcolm. I know that the weather did affect my husbands family as at least two distant relatives were killed at sea during a great storm near to Great Yarmouth, but I had not realised that weather reports for that time existed. Our families also include Seamen, Ag Labs and those who emigrated – so of course the weather will play a huge part in their lives.

    • Sorry for the delay in responding. (Brit, Telecom are in a quandary about who should fix my broadband connection – but we will keep smiling through it all!) Although you don’t mention a date , I am sure that a quick key word search through Lamb’s ,Historic Storms of the North Sea would be useful. (The reference is in my endnotes)

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