Researching Rutland
Copyright © Rutland Local History and Record Society. - All rights reserved
Registered Charity No 700273
Book Review
How
many
of
us
have
access
to
a
box
of
old
undated
photographs
of
our
ancestors?
The
aim
of
this
excellent
and
very
readable
book
is
to
enable us to accurately date them, sometimes even down to a year.
The
subject
has
been
tackled
in
a
very
detailed
and
organised
manner.
This
makes
it
very
easy
to
follow
the
dating
process
through
the book which is colour-coded by five-year periods.
After
a
brief
history
of
photography,
the
author
discusses
the
different
types
of
images,
including
daguerreotype
and
ambrotype,
and the various small cards like cartes de visite and cabinet cards.
The
first
step
in
the
dating
process
is
to
try
to
establish
the
type
of
photograph.
For
each
period,
the
book
then
follows
a
detailed
investigative
method,
considering
fashions
of
men,
women
and
children
with
regard
to
their
hair,
headwear,
neckwear,
skirts,
trousers, jackets, shoes and so on.
Federation of Family History Societies
Dating by Design 1840-1915
- A new way of dating old photographs
By Stephen Gill FRPS ASICI
Published by The Federation of Family History Societies, 2021.ISBN 978-1-9062-8060-4
Available from:
https://www.familyhistorybooksonline.com
Researching Rutland
© Rutland Local History and Record Society
Registered Charity No 700273
Book Review
William Browne’s Town: The Stamford Hall Book 1465-1492
Stamford Survey Group in association with Stamford Town Council and
Stamford Civic Trust
Stamford is fortunate to have a Hall Book, a record of the council minutes
of the town. Until now it has remained in the town’s archives only to be
seen by historians with an appointment. With this transcript Alan Rogers
has made the first part of the Hall Book accessible to all and we are given
the opportunity to step back in time and discover what life was really like
in the fifteenth century. Future volumes are planned which will continue
the story of Stamford’s town affairs.
The book gives a remarkable insight into the lives of townspeople in
medieval England covering the years from 1465, shortly after the town’s
incorporation, until 1489 just after the death of William Browne. William
Browne was a very rich and important Merchant of the Staple. He
controlled the affairs of the town during this period, serving as Alderman
on several occasions. His legacy to Stamford is All Saints’ Church and
Browne’s Hospital.
As today, rules and regulations governed the lives of townsfolk. The
minutes record laws forbidding Sunday trading and fines for leaving
horses tied up in the wrong places on market days – as the editor
comments, ‘There were parking penalties even in medieval Stamford’. We
also find that there were designated places for dunghills and times when
animals could be brought into town. From this book we learn how law
and order was enforced and the punishments meted out to wrongdoers.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the volume is the tremendous
number of different trades pursued in the town. The wardens strictly
controlled the craftsmen to ensure the quality of goods and there was a
diversity of rules governing the guilds and the pageant of Corpus Christi.
Alan Rogers has had close links with Stamford and readers will no doubt
be familiar with his books The Medieval Buildings of Stamford
(Nottingham 1970), The Book of Stamford (Buckingham 1983) and, with
JS Hartley, The Religious Foundations of Medieval Stamford
(Nottingham 1974). He has also been closely involved with local history in
Rutland, most recently in Uppingham, inspiring and encouraging local
historians to record aspects of the history of that town.
For this volume Professor Rogers has written an excellent introduction
including the insight he has gained about the role of William Browne in
making the transcript. He also adds useful comments throughout the
volume and there is an excellent index. It is a shame that the Editorial
Conventions are not at the front of the book and a glossary would have
been useful for those less familiar with the legal terms of the medieval
period. Do not however be deterred by the plain cover: inside it is a
fascinating record not just for people in Stamford but for anyone
interested in town life in the Middle Ages. It is a book to dip into, and read
aloud it comes to life. It certainly merits a place on the bookshelf of
anyone interested in history.
Jean Orpin