Forum February 2020

The February Forum was a ‘Show and Tell of Historical Items’ followed by a general discussion on member’s ‘Brickwalls, Discoveries and Disappointments.’

This was an enjoyable meeting with an informal relaxed feeling as common interests were shared. Quite a number of members offered information, asked for help with brick walls, offered help with suggestions of places to search and brought objects of interest.

These are a selection of members’ offerings:

Alistair Sholl showed us a print of a drawing by Robert Russell, the first surveyor, circa 1880.

Jan Walker brought an engraved cow horn from 1836.

Jan Hanslow had a copy of John Pascoe Fawkner’s No. 2 (8th January 1838) handwritten newspaper and images of his printing press.

Alexander Romanov-Hughes informed the group of an on-line book seller – ABE Books – for old books and photographs.

A query was made about tracing the movements of an ancestor who was a Ships’ Captain. Lorna Elms had some insight into this. “I went to the Maritime Museum in Greenwich London many, many years ago! I was able to get from Greenwich, copies of Certificates for Thomas Lee, from the time he joined the Merchant Navy as a recruit (this was great because his parent’s names and his birthdate were on the first document). Additional Certificates were available for him as he passed each Examination level up until he became a Captain.” Another suggested option was looking on FindMyPast (findmypast.com.au/search-world-records/britain-merchant-seamen-1835-1857) (by courtesy of the The National Archives).

Sample Page of John Pascoe Fawkner’s Handwritten Newspaper

(SLV image)

The above is a report on the PPPG General Meeting held on 29 February 2020