Derbyshire Coat of Arms

As we are using the opportunities of lockdown to convert old catalogues and resources into a digital format, I thought I would include this information about the Derbyshire coat of arms - the notes appear to have been written by Miss Sinar, the first County Archivist for Derbyshire, in the 1960s or 1970s.  I have …

Anglican ecclesiastical records

A guide to the archives of the Church of England in Derbyshire.In 1969, Derbyshire Record Office was legally designated by the Bishop of Derby as the Derby Diocesan Record Office and parish records are also deposited under the Parochial Registers and Records Measure 1978.  The office is also approved by the Master of the Rolls …

Building control plans

A guide to the history of building control and to the surviving plans at Derbyshire Record Office. In the early Victorian period, outbreaks of disease - especially the cholera epidemics of 1848 - aroused public concern over poor housing and defective drains and sewers. The Public Health Acts of 1848 and 1872, as well as the …

Wonderful words

I first came across the word wapentake about 12 years ago when I started working at the record office - I understood that it described an ancient jurisdiction, similar in meaning (though not necessarily in geography) to the district and borough jurisdictions we have today.  I also discovered that the term hundred was also an area delineating …

Divorce records

A guide to finding divorce records The main official record of a divorce is the Decree Absolute, copies of which can be ordered online via the UK Government website.  The earliest of these records is dated 1858. Up to 1937, case files are held by The National Archives, and can be searched online by the name …

Tithe maps

A guide to finding and using Derbyshire tithe maps and awards Tithe maps were created for a large number of Derbyshire parishes between 1836 and 1853, and are a great resource for local, family and house historians as they are large scale maps accompanied by a schedule giving a range of information including showing who …

Lockdown Stories: How History is Always There

My role as Archives Assistant on the Mining the Seams project has changed rather a lot in the last few months. Before lockdown my main task was to check through a variety of different records donated to us through the Coal Board and creating spreadsheets of information on them ready to add to our catalogues …

Newspapers

A guide to the uses of local newspapers and where to find them (updated Jul 2020). From the 18th century to the present day, newspapers are an invaluable source of information for family and social historians: births, marriages, deaths, advertisements, crime, coroners' reports, sports and entertainments, elections, farm and property sales, bankruptcies, disasters, scandals, and …

Derbyshire Probate: Wills and Administrations

A guide to locating Derbyshire wills and administrations  A Will is a legal document by which a person outlines their wishes for how their property and estate should be managed, divided or disposed of after death. Letters of Adminstration/Admon were granted to an administrator where a person died intestate, i.e. without making a valid will.  …

The Monocled Mutineer’s early career at Blackwell Colliery

On the 100th anniversary of the death of Percy Toplis, I thought it appropriate to look into the connections he had to the local mining industry. Toplis, better known as the Monocled Mutineer, is a bit of a local celebrity for being an imposter, claiming to be an army officer, being mutineer, deserter and a …