Editor Helen Tovey highlights three noteworthy articles in the September issue:
- Chris Paton offers expert advice on tracing the history of your home.
- Janet Barrie provides a comprehensive guide to starting your own one-place study, allowing you to delve deeply into the history of a specific locality.
- Stuart Raymond shares valuable tips on utilizing the Victoria County Histories to gain a broader understanding of the past.
One article Helen doesn’t mention is Gaynor Haliday’s insightful piece on the establishment of schools following the 1870 Elementary Education Act, passed by William Gladstone’s Liberal government. This act had a significant impact, with national literacy rates soaring over the next 20 years—from 80% to 94% among men, and from 73% to 93% among women.
Additionally, I found Julie Johnson’s article on the history of pauper burial grounds particularly compelling. Even when individuals were buried without a gravestone, paper records often remain, preserving their final chapter. The article lists sources.