The Making of Huddersfield' is not a systematic and chronological account of Huddersfield's growth but a series of illuminating snapshots which bring to life numerous aspects of the town and its surrounding area.Just 200 years ago Huddersfield was still a village. In a short time it was to become one of the most dynamic and vibrant towns in the north of England and this book traces the history of that development, from the early Middle Ages, through important changes in Tudor and Stuart ti...

Surnames have always provided key links in historical research. This groundbreaking new work shows that first names can also be highly significant for those tracing genealogies or studying communities. Standard works on first names have always concentrated on etymology. George Redmonds goes much further: he believes that every name has a precise origin and history of expansion, which can be regional or even local; up to c. 1700 it may even have centred on one family. This text fully explor...

The landscape and people are the two most distinctive qualities of the Yorkshire Dales, and this book employs new sources and methods to help the reader see both in a different light. In earlier centuries, religious and social factors influenced the first names that were given to children. Distinctive surnames were inherited, and their expansion or decline can throw light on local communities, on migration and population growth. Place-names emerged from regional and customary practices tha...

This book combines linguistic and historical approaches with the latest techniques of DNA analysis and shows the insights these offer for every kind of genealogical research. It focuses on British names, tracing their origins to different parts of the British Isles and Europe and revealing how names often remain concentrated in the districts where they first became established centuries ago. In the process the book casts fresh light on the ancient peopling of the British Isles. The authors...

Exploring North Yorkshire's History - is a journey through the wonderfully varied landscape of North Yorkshire, and examines its rich history through contemporary colour photographs and words. North Yorkshire is England's largest county and being almost 100 miles wide and 65 miles long offers some of the country's most stunning scenery, from the breathtaking east coastline to the fabulous National Parks. Many of the areas we will explore throughout our journey have been designated Areas of...

In 1455 John Howard was an untitled and relatively obscure Suffolk gentleman. Thirty years later, at the time of his death at the Battle of Bosworth Field, he was Earl Marshal, Duke of Norfolk, Lord Admiral and a very rich man (and his direct descendant is Duke of Norfolk today). How had Howard attained these elevations? Through his service to the House of York, and in particular to King Richard III during the setting aside of Edward V.John Ashdown-Hill examines wh...

In 1464, the most eligible bachelor in England, Edward IV, stunned the nation by revealing his secret marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, a beautiful, impoverished widow whose father and brother Edward himself had once ridiculed as upstarts. Edward's controversial match brought his queen's large family to court and into the thick of the Wars of the Roses.This is the story of the family whose fates would be inextricably intertwined with the fall of the Plantagenets and...

Richard III is accused of murdering his nephews (the 'Princes in the Tower') in order to usurp the throne of England. Since Tudor times he has been painted as the 'black legend,' the murderous uncle. However, the truth is much more complicated and interesting. Rather than looking at all the killings Richard III did not commit, this book focuses on the one execution for which we know that he was responsible.On Friday 13 June 1483, William, Lord Hastings was hustled ...

Clanging: Belfast in its industrial pomp must have been noisy: shipyards manipulating sheets of metal, the constant riveting being only one source of racket; the endless clatter from linen mills, the screeching of trams on unyielding rails, sirens and hooters marking time at the factories. There were steam trains and steam engines in addition to horses' hooves beating on the streets. The rumbustious, often riotous, eternally spirited Belfast people packed into the terraced houses as well a...

Family trees are best viewed on a tablet.A brilliant history of the succession of James I of England, and the shifting power and lethal politics that brought him to the throne.In the dawn of the 17th-century when Mary Queen of Scots was dead and Elizabeth I grown old, the eyes of the English turned to Mary’s son, James VI of Scotland. Leanda de Lisle's book focuses on the intense period of raised hopes and dashed expectations between Christmas 1602 and Christmas 1603, durin...

"The most definitive guide yet in print of researching Ulster based Ancestry" from the Irish genealogy expert and author (Discover My Past, England and Scotland).Tracing Your Northern Irish Ancestors is an expert introduction for the family historian to the wealth of material available to researchers in archives throughout Northern Ireland. Many records, like the early twentieth-century census returns and school registers, will be familiar to researchers, b...

Since 1066 when William the Conqueror (alias William the Bastard) took the throne, English and Scottish kings have sired at least 150 children out of wedlock. Many were acknowledged at court and founded dynasties of their own - several of today's dukedoms are descended from them. Others were only acknowledged grudgingly or not at all. In the twentieth century this trend for royals to father illegitimate children continued, but the parentage, while highly probable, has not ...