Dear Nana (sketch design) is an award-winning journal filled with over 60 fun and inspiring questions carefully created to inspire any grandmother to tell her story - probably one of the most valuable gifts you will ever buy. Everyone has stories to share about their own amazing life and it is so important to find ways to capture and treasure them. Dear Nana contains 60 carefully designed questions to ask her about her life. Ask her to complete it carefully, adding photos and memorabilia along the way. Find out how things have changed throughout her life, what things did she do as a child that are different from today. What were her own parents really like and what adventures has she had in her life. Discover what your own mum or dad was like when they were young! What about your own relationship with your grandmother, what are her favourite memories of the times you have spent together and is there any advice she would like to give you? When you get her completed journal returned to you, this will be one of the most emotional presents you have ever received. A great gift for Mother's Day, Grandparent's Day, her birthday, an anniversary, Christmas or just because you care ...

Spanning 150 years of South Shields' changing fortunes, A Tyneside Heritage is a pioneering work of interwoven local and family history. After the nineteenth-century boom years of coal exporting and shipbuilding for global markets came the First World War, then the mass unemployment and political turbulence of the 1930s. Luftwaffe bombing in the Second World War was followed by the peacetime challenge of attracting new industrial development. Against this background, four generations of the Chapman family played a leading role in the town and in County Durham as businessmen, soldiers, borough councillors, sportsmen, philanthropists and representatives of royalty.

Are you looking for a baby name with a deeper meaning? Or for a popular and resonant name that has stood the test of time? If so, then Christian Christian Names is the only book you'll need. Are you looking for a baby name with a deeper meaning? Or for a popular and resonant name that has stood the test of time? If so, then Christian Christian Names is the only book you'll need. It includes over 2,000 first names for boys and girls, from Aaron to Zipporah. There are many you'll recognise and some you won't, but all of them have their meaning explained as well as the story of the Biblical character or Saint with the same name.

Collins Gem Babies Names is number one in the best-selling stakes. Meet its Irish cousin This detailed guide to over 2000 of the most popular Irish first names is the ideal gift for anyone wishing to choose an Irish name for their child, or is interested in finding out a bit more about their own name.

This Collins Gem is being reissued in paperback. The stylish new cover style and new text design will enliven this and other best-selling Gems.

Irish names are spreading across the world. As well as being more common in Ireland, they now feature in most English-speaking countries of the world.

The reason for this spread is not hard to find. Massive emigration, especially during the 19th century famines, left many people of Irish descent in Britain, the USA, Canada and Australia. These emigrants often had to give up the Irish language in favour of English, but they took their names with them, gave them to their children and spread them in the new countries. Indeed some, such as Brian, are now so well-established that they are no longer considered Irish. Others have developed strong associations with their new countries, so that Oscar is sometimes thought of as Scandinavian, Barry and Sheila are associated with Australia, and for most people Darren is American.

What then is an Irish name? In this book a very broad view is taken, with special attention paid to what has happened to names after they left Ireland. The names come from Gaelic (and are given in Gaelic and in an anglicised form), from translations from Irish forms of non-Irish names and from Irish surnames and words.

Over 2000 names included.

Features names derived from the Irish language, anglicized versions of Irish names, and Irish names used in the USA and Australia.

Meaning, origin and pronunciation guide given for each name.

This edition has been redesigned in the new Gem style both internally and with a new cover design

Parish registers are a vast, important but widely scattered archive. They are essential to the family historian, providing the only written record of the vast majority of our ancestors who left but three brief mentions - a baptism, a marriage and a burial. This guide to parish registers, now in its third edition, and covering England, Scotland and Wales, is a vital, time-saving tool that has become universally known as 'the genealogist's bible'. The Atlas includes the famous county 'parish' maps, which show pre-1832 parochial boundaries, colour-coded probate jurisdictions, starting dates of surviving registers, and churches and chapels, where relevant. Topographical maps face each 'parish' map, and show the contemporary road system and other local features, to help deduce the likely movement of people beyond the searcher's starting point. The Index lists the parishes, with grid references to the county maps. It indicates the present whereabouts of original registers and copies, and whether a parish is included in other indexes. It also gives registration districts and census information. Thus in this invaluable guide, the user may quickly find answers to such questions as: Have the registers been deposited? Where may they be found? What outside dates do they cover? Have they been copied or indexed, and by whom?

This book-part memoir, part political statement-examines the influence of the author's maternal and paternal ancestry on his life. Delving into the rich history of Francis Mading Deng's heritage, Blood of Two Streams acts as a bridge to cross-cultural understanding and multidisciplinary connection between the personal, the communal, and the universal.

Become your family detective with the basic Latin and a glossary of common genealogical terms - everything you need to get started and proceed to an advanced stage. This book provides information on using the Internet, newspapers and record offices, and instructions on how to record your data. It takes you step-by-step through the whole process, from interviewing living relatives to looking at old wills and church records. It is illustrated in detail with 350 charts, diagrams and archive pictures. This book begins with the basics of starting your search and guides you through each stage. Almost every link your family may have had with archived information is discussed - was your ancestor a nurse, a miner, a landowner, a pedlar or a prostitute? You'll learn what clues to look out for as you study old photographs, certificates and documents, and find out about the organizations and website links that will help take your investigations further. All that you need to know to get you started is in this book, with invaluable lists, checklists, hints and tips, as well as help on recording your data and using the most methodical research techniques. Enticing historical detail illustrates just how intriguing family history can be, and incredible photographs portray family and social life through the ages.

This is the very first 'teach yourself' book on palaeography, covering all the skills that the genealogist needs to read any document that might be found at any date in English archives. Using a series of graded exercises in transcription, Teach Yourself Palaeography works backwards in time in easy stages from the modern handwriting of the nineteenth century to the court hands of the medieval period, focusing on records that are of particular interest to family and local historians. The book provides a unique, self-contained reference guide to palaeography, and to all the different letter forms, symbols and abbreviations that have ever been used in English records.

'Beautiful, like a muddy journey through time . . . a really important book' RAYNOR WINN, author of The Salt Path Lisa Woollett has spent her life combing beaches and mudlarking, collecting curious fragments of the past: from Roman tiles and Tudor thimbles, to Victorian buttons and plastic soldiers. In a series of walks from the Thames, out to the Kentish estuary and eventually to Cornwall, she traces the history of our rubbish and, through it, reveals the surprising story of our changing consumer culture. Timely and beautifully written, Rag and Bone shows what we can learn from what we've thrown away and urges us to think more about what we leave behind.

This newly updated illustrated guide provides a detailed insight into the origins and history of tartan, from the very earliest samples, through those worn by the warring clans in the Stuart rebellions, to the Katsushika Japanese Dancers. The first section details the story of tartan, with information on the way the fabric and weaves developed, and how it became a symbol of resistance. The main part of the book is a directory illustrating the major clan tartans followed by international and modern tartans, with a wealth of history and background to each. From the ancient Bruce family to Neil Armstrong, who took his family tartan to the moon, tartan is one of the most enduring symbols of national pride and individual reputation. It is also a peculiarly inclusive, adaptable way of proclaiming allegiance and belonging.

An updated edition of the perfect do-it-yourself memoir that helps you record and preserve the experiences and knowledge of a lifetime for years to come. Divided into Early, Middle, and Later Years, this keepsake volume contains 201 questions that guide you through the process of keeping memories on subjects such as family and friends, learning and education, work and responsibilities, and the world around you. Created by a grandson and grandfather, The Book of Myself is the perfect way for you, or someone close to you, to remember the turning points and everyday recollections of a lifetime and share them with future generations. The new edition has been updated with reordered questions to start with more objective, easy-to-answer prompts, then move to reflective queries, followed by deeper interpretive questions. It also includes aunts, uncles, and those who did not have children.

First published in 1999, the ideas and practices involved in early medieval royal family politics are the central theme of this collection of papers by Janet L. Nelson. She first examines King Alfred of Wessex (871-99) in the context of Anglo-Saxon conditions and in comparison with his Carolingian contemporaries. When tension and conflict within the royal family are highlighted, she argues that Alfred's talents and political thought emerge the more impressively. A second group of papers deals with the reign of Charles the Bald (840-77): his patronage of learning and his interest in Spanish martyrs are set in political context, while contemporary historiography is considered as a form of counsel and critique. The third section reflects Nelson's growing interest in the political importance and gendered roles of royal women. Consecration rites are analysed as ritual expressions and factors in the shaping of the queenship, while two final papers also examine the making and unmaking of Frankish kings and princes.

The Victoria Cross is Britain and the Commonwealth's most prestigious gallantry medal for courage in the face of the enemy. It has been bestowed upon 1,355 heroic individuals from all walks of life since its creation during the Crimean War. Lord Ashcroft, who has been fascinated with bravery since he was a young boy, now owns 200 VCs, by far the largest collection of its kind in the world. Following on from the bestselling Victoria Cross Heroes, first published in 2006 to mark the 150th anniversary of the award, Victoria Cross Heroes: Volume II gives extraordinary accounts of the bravery behind the newest additions to Lord Ashcroft's VC collection - those decorations purchased in the last decade. With nearly sixty action-packed stories of courageous soldiers, sailors and airmen from a range of global conflicts including the Indian Mutiny of 1857-58, the Second Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 and the First and Second World Wars, this book is a powerful testament to the strength of the human spirit and a worthy tribute to the servicemen who earned the Victoria Cross. Their inspirational deeds of valour and self-sacrifice should be championed and never forgotten.

The trail that an ancestor leaves through the Victorian period and the twentieth century is relatively easy to follow - the records are plentiful, accessible and commonly used. But how do you go back further, into the centuries before the central registration of births, marriages and deaths was introduced in 1837, before the first detailed census records of 1841? How can you trace a family line back through the early modern period and perhaps into the Middle Ages? Jonathan Oates's clearly written new handbook gives you all the background knowledge you need in order to go into this engrossing area of family history research. He starts by describing the administrative, religious and social structures in the medieval and early modern period and shows how these relate to the family historian. Then in a sequence of accessible chapters he describes the variety of sources the researcher can turn to. Church and parish records, the records of the professions and the courts, manorial and property records, tax records, early censuses, lists of loyalty, militia lists, charity records - all these can be consulted. He even includes a short guide to the best methods of reading medieval and early modern script. Jonathan Oates's handbook is an essential introduction for anyone who is keen to take their family history research back into the more distant past.

When journalist Scott Tong moved to Shanghai, his assignment was to start up the first full-time China bureau for "Marketplace," the daily business and economics program on public radio stations across the United States. But for Tong the move became much more it offered the opportunity to reconnect with members of his extended family who had remained in China after his parents fled the communists six decades prior. By uncovering the stories of his family's history, Tong discovered a new way to understand the defining moments of modern China and its long, interrupted quest to go global. A Village with My Name offers a unique perspective on the transitions in China through the eyes of regular people who have witnessed such epochal events as the toppling of the Qing monarchy, Japan's occupation during World War II, exile of political prisoners to forced labor camps, mass death and famine during the Great Leap Forward, market reforms under Deng Xiaoping, and the dawn of the One Child Policy. Tong's story focuses on five members of his family, who each offer a specific window on a changing country: a rare American-educated girl born in the closing days of the Qing Dynasty, a pioneer exchange student, an abandoned toddler from World War II who later rides the wave of China's global export boom, a young professional climbing the ladder at a multinational company, and an orphan (the author's daughter) adopted in the middle of a baby-selling scandal fueled by foreign money. Through their stories, Tong shows us China anew, visiting former prison labor camps on the Tibetan plateau and rural outposts along the Yangtze, exploring the Shanghai of the 1930s, and touring factories across the mainland. With curiosity and sensitivity, Tong explores the moments that have shaped China and its people, offering a compelling and deeply personal take on how China became what it is today.

Monarchy, Aristocracy and the State in Europe 1300 - 1800 is an important survey of the relationship between monarchy and state in early modern European history. Spanning five centuries and covering England, France, Spain, Germany and Austria, this book considers the key themes in the formation of the modern state in Europe.
The relationship of the nobility with the state is the key to understanding the development of modern government in Europe. In order to understand the way modern states were formed, this book focusses on the implications of the incessant and costly wars which European governments waged against each other, which indeed propelled the modern state into being.
Monarchy, Aristocracy and the State in Europe 1300-1800 takes a fascinating thematic approach, providing a useful survey of the position and role of the nobility in the government of states in early modern Europe.

Taking recent German debates of diversity terminology as a case example for scrutinizing enactments of genealogy that assume a linear image of progressive generation, this book engages with performative effects of genealogical stories in academic texts that negotiate conceptual belonging. While supporters of the developing Diversity Studies in Germany cherish diversity's potential for multi-category investigations, Gender and Women's Studies critics reject the term for its neoliberal, managerial rationale, allegedly holding profit above social justice. Genealogies and Conceptual Belonging intervenes in this oppositional debate by turning one's attention to narrations of the origins of "gender" and "diversity" that suggest their proper place in the present. Presenting a story about dis/continuous genealogies and highlighting complicated interferences between gender and diversity, Marten forges novel future connections between questions of gender, sexual difference, and diversity. This pioneering volume will be of particular interest to undergraduates, postgraduates and postdoctoral researchers interested in the fields of genealogy, Gender Studies, feminist theory, feminist science studies and critical race / diversity / intersectionality studies.

Symbols are all around us - some mysterious, some timeless, some arcane and some prosaic. But what are their origins? What does the infinity symbol really signify? Do you understand yin and yang? And why is the swastika really a good luck sign? This enticing gift book explores the world of classic symbols and signs, revealing the deep meaning and often quirky history behind each one. From the ouroboros and the ankh to the menorah, caduceus and astrological symbols, the book ranges widely across the world's most recognised symbols. With one symbol per page, accompanied by a detailed explanation and history, and printed on high quality paper with a special binding, Classic Symbols is a unique and attractive book which will appeal to a broad range of readers, both as a gift and as a source for tattoo designs and other creative projects.

Historical novels can be windows into other cultures and eras, but it's not always clear what's fact and what's fiction. Thousands have read Ba Jin's influential novel Family, but few realize how much he shaped his depiction of 1920s China to suit his story and his politics. In Fact in Fiction, Kristin Stapleton puts Ba Jin's bestseller into full historical context, both to illustrate how it successfully portrays human experiences during the 1920s and to reveal its historical distortions. Stapleton's attention to historical evidence and clear prose that directly addresses themes and characters from Family create a book that scholars, students, and general readers will enjoy. She focuses on Chengdu, China, Ba Jin's birthplace and the setting for Family, which was also a cultural and political center of western China. The city's richly preserved archives allow Stapleton to create an intimate portrait of a city that seemed far from the center of national politics of the day but clearly felt the forces of-and contributed to-the turbulent stream of Chinese history.

Gustavus Adolphus (1594--1632) dominated his age: he made Sweden the leading power of Northern Europe, was the principal upholder of the Protestant cause in the Thirty Years War, and was a great administrator as well as a brilliant soldier. His toleration and reforms helped define the development of the modern state. This concise study of his career, by the doyen of modern historians of the North, appeared in 1973. Long unavailable but now revised, expanded, updated and reset, it makes a welcome return in Profiles in Power.

Queen Victoria's son, Prince Leopold, died from haemophilia, but no member of the royal family before his generation had suffered from the condition. Medically, there are only two possibilities: either one of Victoria's parents had a 1 in 50,000 random mutation, or Victoria was the illegitimate child of a haemophiliac man. However the haemophilia gene arose, it had a profound effect on history. Two of Victoria's daughters were silent carriers who passed the disease to the Spanish and Russian royal families. The disease played a role in the origin of the Spanish Civil War; and the tsarina's concern over her only son's haemophilia led to the entry of Rasputin into the royal household, contributing directly to the Russian Revolution. Finally, if Queen Victoria was illegitimate, who should have inherited the British throne? The answer is astonishing.

This collection focuses on the history of legal emblems and the genealogy of law s visual structures. The growing interest in law and the visual has tended to focus in a somewhat lazy fashion upon film and law, rather than addressing the actual history of law s regimes of visual control. But early modern lawyers, civilian and common alike, developed their very own ars iuris or art of law. A variety of legal disciplines always relied in part upon the use of visual representations, upon images and statuary to convey authority and sovereign norm. Military, religious, administrative and legal images found juridical codification and expression in collections of signs of office, in heraldic codes, in genealogical devices, and then finally in the juridical invention in the mid-sixteenth century of the legal emblem book. This book traces the complex lineage of the legal emblem and argues that the mens emblematica of the humanist lawyers was the inauguration of a visiocratic regime that continues in significant part into the present and multiple technologies of vision. Bringing together leading experts on the history of legal emblems to address the critical question of why it was lawyers who authored the "emblemata," and correlatively, what was the relation and role of these visual depictions of norms to the practice and performance of law, this collection provides a ground-breaking account of the long relationship between visibility, meaning and normativity."