Genealogy Chat

Saw a copy of the Kilvert Diaries today. I'd never heard of this book before and flicking through it, it struck me it may be of interest to people researching the areas he lived and worked in. Rev. Francis Kilvert b.1840 chippenham wiltshire. Son of a rector. Worked himself as a rector kept diaries from 1870 to his premature death in 1879. These diaries detail every day life in the areas- Wiltshire & Radnorshire borders - where he lived and worked. they name individuals and the names of their homes. I thought how lovely it would be to read of an ancestor in a real account of the day. Try googling to find out more :) Sioux

I do agree, Sioux. I have relatives (servants, of course) mentioned in both Parson Woodforde's diary and Mary Hardy's diary. Kilvert's is much more fun because it is so detailed. How I wish his wife hadn't destroyed whole chunks of it. If nothing else, I learnt that mothers called girls Thirza and Mahala on the strength of a cheap religious pamphlet going the rounds. Brenda

Many diaries of the period can be an insight into everyday life in a locality. I don't think village life would be that different in most counties. The Times newspaper is available on microfilm going back ages - when I was looking up a murder trial at the London metropolitan archives I found the front pages were dominated by the plight of cotton workers in Lancashire - they had no cotton because the USA was embroiled in civil war. It was also interesting to read the reviews of books published at the time - some of which are still in print, others sunk without trace. The ads also add period flavour. nell