16/02/2026
The following talks are being held by Basildon Borough Heritage Society in tthe Green Room, Wat Tyler Country Park, Pitsea.
Lecture No. 1- Starting out with Genealogy / Family History.
14 March 2026.1030-1230
Timelines and Documented records.
Skeletons and Cupboards.
Registrations, Certificates and Census.
Service records and other available sources.
What record keeping systems are best?
Lecture No.2- Brickwalls and Rabbit Warrens.
11 April 20261030-1230
Revisiting what I think I know.
The inaccuracies of Census.
Enumerators and Illiteracy.
Other cultures (Religions and Churches).
Records before National Registrations in 1837.
Lecture No. 3 – Live Case Study – Genealogy and Social History
09 May 20261030-1230.
Audience volunteer (or one provided!)
Challenging proof.
Parish or Registration locations.
Documenting proof and social history.
Obtaining copies of Birth, Marriage or Death certificates. (Post 1837)
Lecture No. 4- Evolution of Social History.
06 June 2026 1030-1230.
Time-periods and Eras. (Henry VIII)
Medieval (and still current Legal and Social records).
Parish registers.
Parchment not Paper and Inks.
The Mayflower period and Pilgrim Ships.
Puritanism and Oliver Cromwell.
Transportation.
Lecture No. 5 – History of Genealogy.
04 July 20261030-1230
Saxon names and regions.
Place names, Estate names, Geographical names, Patronymic, Matronymic or Ancestral
names.
Danelaw and the Vikings.
The ’Hundreds’ shire divisions.
The Norman Conquest.
The Industrial Revolution(s).
Lecture No. 6 – The Kings Shilling.
25 July 20261030-1230.
What did you do in the war dad?
Military, Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force Records. (Timelines)
Naval Records (Timelines)
London Gazette
Limits of WW1 Records.
Prisoner of War Records.
Topic Lectures
25 April 2026Workhouses1030-1200
Vagrancy and the Idle Poor
Orphans and Apprentices
Inmates and work.
Crime, Punishment and the Treadmill
Houses of Correction.
Essex Union Workhouses and Parishes.
16 May 2026A Walk across the Thames1030-1200
Where was the Thames?
The Area Geology.
Roman Roads and Conquest.
Beacons and Forts.
Causeways and steps.
13 June 2026Kynochtown.1030-1200
Who was George Kynoch?
The Cartridge and Birmingham Small Arms Factory.
Aston Villa Football Club.
The Explosives Factory. (now known as Coryton)
The Light Railway.
11 July 2026Postal Service in the First World War1030-1200
Sub- Headings
King Edward (Bertie) and George V.
Post Office Rifle Battalion. (A lot of Stamp Lickers!)
Letters to and from the Trenches.
Delivery or letters and Parcels to the Front.
01 August 2026London Prisons1030-1200
Sub-Headings.
London’s former Prisons, Bridewells and Compters.
John of Gaunt to the Savoy.
Prison Hulks.
The Tower from the Norman Conquest to the Krays.
