A Victorian Christmas

Hi,

My Christmas posting is finally here, sorry it's taken so long but I've barely had chance to eat a mince pie over the last couple of weeks!

Your ancestors would have had different experiences of Christmas according to their social class, and the time period that they lived in. Poor Victorian families aren't likely to have had all the trimmings of a stereotypical Dickensian Christmas - the children may have had one, very simple, toy (often made by a family member) or a new dress for an existing doll, for example. Much of Christmas day would have been taken up by going to church or chapel services, particularly for the very religious such as many chapel-going coal-mining families in the South Wales valleys. Many would have heated their dinner (particularly the goose etc.) in the local baker's ovens, being unable to afford large enough ovens to cook them at home.

Richer families would have bought their children more elaborate toys - dolls houses, rocking horses, and toy soldiers, for example. They would also have had more extravagant dinners, and more parties and social gatherings.

Of course, some of the older traditions would have been as familiar to your ancestors as they are to us: carol singing, mince pies and a Christmas tree (though this would have been a fairly recent tradition to the Victorians) would have played a part in many families' Christmases. The name Santa Claus would have been unheard of in the UK however - the figure with the white beard being given the more genteel name of Father Christmas.

And of course, to many, particularly the more literate, Christmas will have meant a Dickens story.

Happy Christmas to all of you!

Time Flies...

Hi,
Sorry I haven't posted much lately, time seems to be getting away from me (quite ironic!) but at least it's because I've been working hard!
I promise to make more of an effort to keep posting - I'm hoping to do some Christmas posts pretty soon (love Christmas!)
Bye for now!

11/11

A hundred years ago, on November 11th 1913, who could have known what was to follow? Who would have predicted that the following year would see the outbreak of, not just a war, but a war of such huge impact?

Before the end of the war, just a few years later, everyone would know of someone who had been killed or injured in 'the great war.' Millions of lives had been changed forever; not just the dead, but the injured left behind, bore witness to what had happened between 1914 and 1918.

The poppy flowers continued to grow on fields that had seen death, a reminder of continuing life. And on November 11th, the guns fell silent.

Next year sees the hundredth anniversary of the start of the war - where were your ancestors in 1914?

Xmas Orders

Hey,
Just a quick reminder - if you want to place a Christmas order, I need to know as soon as possible,
See www.familyhistorybycerys.co.uk for more info on packages, costs, etc.
Bye for now!

Xmas Orders

Hi,
If anyone would like to order research a special Christmas present then please do so asap to allow me time to research and present the package/request. See www.familyhistorybycerys.co.uk for details.
Thanks!
Cerys

Link to a great photo

VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHY: Mary Pickford in Dorothea Vernon 1924: via

I love old-fashioned photos, so I thought I'd show you this great one on the vintage photography blog

Living History

Today is the 100th anniversary of the Senghenydd mining disaster, which cost over 400 lives. Over 400 men who were working to feed their families were killed by an industry which took as much as it gave, and sometimes took more.

It was not the first accident, it was not the last, but it was the biggest. It might be nice though to remember the lives as well as the deaths; these men were brothers, cousins, sons, fathers. Many would have been English immigrants, as well as men born and raised in Wales, and men whose families were Welsh long before anyone could remember.

The industry shaped Wales, for bad, good, or simply neutral. The men mattered, even if it didn't always seem like it at the time.