LEICESTERSHIRE & RUTLAND FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY
The collection includes: Archives of: Leicestershire & Rutland County Councils Borough of Leicester (from 1103) Courts of Quarter Sessions and Petty Sessions Poor Law Unions Probate Registry (Wills from 1858) Anglican & Non-conformist Churches Archdeaconry of Leicester (including wills & inventories from 1496) Landed estates & families Solicitors, commercial firms & manufacturers Clubs, societies & other organisation Also Census returns for Leicestershire & Rutland Books, magazines & pamphlets on Leicestershire & Rutland Directories & Electorial Registers File of local newspapers Illustrations of people & places Photographs & archive films Ordnance survey maps Oral history tapes & sound recordings The Office sells among many other things Of particular interest to researchers is an index card file of the 1851 census Readers Tickets.. The Record Office For Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland is a member of the County Archive Research Network. A Reader’s Ticket can be obtained on your first visit by showing documents bearing your name and address. The ticket can be used in many County Record Offices throughout the country and is valid for four years. Other Services Copying photocopies, printouts from microfiche & film and photographs (subject to copyright & condition of the item to be copied) Research Service details of costs and further information from the Genealogical Researcher at The Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland. Publications for sale including books of local interest,maps, posters, postcards, handlists of records. Rest area for eating sandwiches with a tea/coffee machine Disabled access and toilet Public pay phone
Also
The Office sells among many other things
Of particular interest to researchers is an index card file of the 1851 census
Readers Tickets.. The Record Office For Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland is a member of the County Archive Research Network. A Reader’s Ticket can be obtained on your first visit by showing documents bearing your name and address. The ticket can be used in many County Record Offices throughout the country and is valid for four years.
Other Services
The record office have many interesting publications for sale and I will be creating a list on this page. Payment may be made by Visa or Mastercard but a surcharge of 25p is made for this service on orders under £15 . Postage is charged at cost.
Order From The Record office (Address below)
BY CAR:
From Leicester Follow the A5199 Welford Road, southwards to the roundabout at the junction with the B582. Take the third exit onto Wakes Road and at the junction with Leicester Road turn left. Continue straight on around the mini-roundabout and into Long Street. The Record Office is on the right.
CLICK FOR MAP
From the Ml & M69. Leave the motorway at Ml Junction 21 and follow signs for Leicester South & East and for Wigston (A563). At the large roundabout at the end of Glenhills Way take the fourth exit into Stonesby Avenue which leads into Aylestone Lane. At the mini-roundabout turn right into Long Street. The Record Office is on the right.
There are hourly train services to South Wigston from Nottingham via Loughborough & Leicester, and from Coventry via Nuneaton, Hinckley & Narborough. The station is about 1.5 miles from the Record Office.
THE RECORDS OFFICE FOR LEICESTERSHIRE, LEICESTER & RUTLAND LONG STREET WIGSTON MAGNA LEICESTER LE18 2AH
Telephone: 0116 2571080 Fax: 0116 257 1120 (Click- Details)
YOU WILL FIND THE STAFF MOST HELPFUL
Telephone 0116 2571080 Fax: 0116 2571120
Report By Pat Grundy We are now avidly watching 'Who do you think you are?'(BBC UK) and I am about to embark on a series of family history events in libraries around the county and in Leicester. It's nice to be out and about and meeting lots of new people, many of whom later appear in the Record Office.
The Murder of Hannah Brown Continued Now in case you were wondering what happened to James Greenace, he stood trial at the Old Bailey and, one Wednesday 12 April 1837, he was sentenced to death. At his trial, he claimed that Hannah Brown had been drunk and fallen backwards on her chair. He claimed that he had cut up her body in order to dispose of it because he feared being charged with murder. Evidently the jury did not believe him. In gaol, he wrote an account of the murder and disposal of the body, some of the details of which differed from the details which were given at the trial. In this he claimed that he and Mrs Brown had argued because she had deceived him as to the extent of her property. In a rage he had hit Mrs Brown in the eye with a haberdasher's rolling pin, normally used for rolling silk, which had been lying on the table. Ironically the rolling pin had belonged to her. Medical evidence however, suggested that she had been hit with a fist.
On the evening of Monday 1 May 1837, crowds began to arrive in the area around Newgate Prison. On Tuesday they grew so much that barriers were erected to prevent more people entering the area because there were fears for public safety. By the time that Greenacre was brought to the newly erected gallows, there were spectators crowding onto the surrounding rooftops and peering from the windows that overlooked the prison. James Greenacre was hanged at 8.10am on Tuesday 2 May 1837
From a family history point of view, the reporting has included a great deal of personal information about James Greenacre. However what was particularly interesting was the Journals editorial comment, having taken all this information from the London newspapers and repeated it in great detail. It was noted that the readers had an insatiable appetite for all of the gruesome details. At the end of the final piece there were comments about the injustices done to Grecnacre in the reporting of the case, presenting him as an ugly man 'with a forbidding aspect and an overhanging brow' and suggesting what we would recognise as media frenzy. More than a hundred and sixty years have passed and we no longer have public hangings, or indeed a death penalty. Newspapers have a different format with pictures and headlines but when it comes to reporting a sensational case, nothing else has changed.
Hidden Gems Eliza Stone was a prolific diarist keeping journals and notes throughout her life. This began in childhood and continued after her marriage to Samuel Spurretin 1829. I came across these when 1 was asked to transcribe part of her diary for 1844 in which she described a holiday trip which she made with her husband. They took a boat trip and 1 transcribed the part in which they travelled to Clifton and the Wye. It has to be said that her handwriting is appalling and it was not an easy task. However although there were no exciting events, nothing of national importance, it still made fascinating reading. Through the pages of her journal, we see the things that Eliza saw, we are introduced to her friends and acquaintances and even the weather.
I would love to have the time to read more of Eliza's jottings and to know more about her. It is worth battling with the handwriting.
Eliza Spurret's Diaries and Journals can be found under our reference 7D54/1 - 3
Forthcoming Exhibitionsbr> Throughout March there will be Leicestershire and the Russian War. This will be followed in April by The Easter Rising (to be confirmed) and in May by Know your place: maps in the Record Office.
LRFHS Journal No. 119 March 2005
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