A simple guide to tracing British family tree before the onset of civil registration in 1837 and back to the Middle Ages.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 ...

The real-life murder mysteries that rocked London between two world wars—from the author of Unsolved Murders of Victorian and Edwardian London.Unsolved crimes have a special fascination, none more so than unsolved murders. The shock of the crime itself and the mystery surrounding it, the fear generated by the awareness a killer on the loose, the insight the cases give into outdated police methods, and the chance to speculate about the identity of the kille...

"Oates charts train crimes from the Victorian period to the present day, from casual murder to calculated robbery. . . . A must for true-crime addicts" ( Practical Family History).Murder and robbery committed on the railways have long held a special place in British criminal history. Railways and trains create special conditions—and opportunities—for criminal acts. Two legendary large-scale robberies took place on the British railways—the Gold Bullion Robb...

The bestselling criminal history author provides "compelling insight" into the life and crimes of one of England's most notorious serial killers ( Buckinghamshire Life).Sixty years ago, the discovery of bodies at 10 Rillington Place in Notting Hill, London, led to one of the most sensational, shocking, and controversial serial murder cases in British criminal history: the case of John Christie. Much has been written about the Christie kil...

London is a key site for family historians. Many researchers, seeking to trace their ancestry back through the generations, will find their trail leads to London or through it. Yet, despite the burgeoning interest in genealogy and the importance of London in so many life stories, few previous books have explored the citys history or provided guidance on the research resources family historians can use to discover the life of a London ancestor. This is the purpose of Jonathan Oatess invalua...

Did you know that many of Agatha Christie’s best-selling detective stories have their basis in reality?‘Who killed Charles Bravo and why?’ asks retired Superintendent Spence in Elephants Can Remember. He refers to an unsolved Victorian murder mystery, one of many allusions to real life crime and criminals in Agatha Christie’s fiction. The infamous Dr Crippen, Jack the Ripper, John George Haigh, and many other real killers, fraudsters and spies, figure prominently in her plots, both...

The East End is one of the most famous parts of London and it has had its own distinctive identity since the district was first settled in medieval times. It is best known for extremes of poverty and deprivation, for strong political and social movements, and for the extraordinary mix of immigrants who have shaped its history. Jonathan Oatess handbook is the ideal guide to its complex, rich and varied story and it is an essential source for anyone who wants to find out about an East End an...

"Oates examines in minute detail why the Jacobite forces posed such a threat to William and Mary, Queen Anne, and George I and II." —Books MonthlyMany books have been written about the Jacobite rebellions—the armed attempts made by the Stuarts to regain the British throne between 1689 and 1746—and in particular about the risings of 1689, 1715, 1719 and 1745. The key battles have been described in graphic detail. Yet no previous book has given a comprehensive militar...

Family history should reveal more than facts and dates, lists of names and places it should bring ancestors alive in the context of their times and the surroundings they knew and research into local history records is one of the most rewarding ways of gaining this kind of insight into their world. That is why Jonathan Oatess detailed introduction to these records is such a useful tool for anyone who is trying to piece together a portrait of family members from the past. In a series of conc...

Ealing was once known as the 'Queen of the Suburbs', though this phrase is more commonly used now by estate agents. Ealing Through Time enables the reader to judge for themselves whether the viewpoints of Ealing justify the title in question, both in the past and in contemporary times. Ealing was a 'country town near London' when these postcards were commissioned. It was blessed by many fine open spaces and was near to the countryside too. Yet it also had good transport links by train and ...

Ealing, once known as the ‘Queen of the Suburbs’, has had a long and varied history. Once a country town in Middlesex, the area became part of the City of London in 1965 and celebrates its fiftieth anniversary as a London borough in 2015. This is the first book to chart the history of Ealing from earliest times to the dawn of the twenty-first century. It draws on many sources, including contemporary diaries, newspapers, parish and borough archives. The reader will learn about the many chan...

An historical true crime accounting of London's notorious serial murderers and their victims, spanning the Victorian era to the mid-twentieth century.Murders and murderers fascinate us—and perhaps serial killers fascinate us most of all. In the twentieth century the term came to be used to describe murders committed by the same person, often with similar methods. But, as Jonathan Oates demonstrates in this selection of cases from London, this category of crime has e...