March’s Social Media Digest

To get off on the right note for March, which is Women's History Month, our Archive of the Week thread turned to the Arts. In our Strutt Library, bequeathed by Frederick Strutt (1843-1909), you’ll find a cornucopia of literary, artistic, and scientific works, including musical compositions by Frances Crawford Kemble (1787-1849) a.k.a. Mrs Robert Arkwright …

Mind Your Manors – the records of the Manor of Duffield Fee

Manorial courts are one of the earliest forms of local government, as the Lord or Lady of the Manor had jurisdiction over their lands and tenants. Manorial records hold information about transfer of land between tenants, about manorial customs (rules), local peacekeeping and society in general.  The Duffield Fee manor archive originally came into Derbyshire …

Catalogue Available for Messrs W. G. & J. Strutt and English Sewing Cotton Company Limited Collections

We have recently been reworking the catalogue for two collections connected to the mills owned by the Strutt family, which were later taken over by the English Sewing Cotton Company. Both collections relate to the various mills in Belper, Milford and Derby, which were once thriving workplaces within Derbyshire. Snippet view of the D6948 catalogue …

Education of Child Workers at the Strutt Owned Mills

Back in November, I wrote about the registers of child workers I came across during the renumbering of our D6948 collection, which relates to W. G. and J. Strutt Ltd. There was little information in them about the children they referenced, besides when they were taken on and possibly their age. Recently I came across …

Mary Vincent a friend to the World War One Soldiers of Belper

Today's post comes from Adrian Farmer, Heritage Coordinator at Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site and Chairman of the Belper Historical Society, who has been helping us to identify photographs in our D3638 collection for the English Sewing Cotton Company Limited. Whilst looking through some Belper-related photographs in the Record Office, we came across some …

Out and About with the Nightwatchmen

This week’s blogpost is written by guest blogger, and Heritage Co-ordinator for the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site (DVMWHS), Adrian Farmer BEM. Born in Derby and growing up in Mickleover, Adrian initially pursued a career in journalism, becoming Editor of the Belper News, aged 23. His interest in history brought him to the town’s …

Our missing nightwatchmen have come home!

Thanks to your incredible generosity our joint crowdfunding project with Belper Historical Society was successful and we’ve been able to buy this amazing nightwatchmen’s report book. Local historian Adrian Farmer visited the Record Office to see it for himself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8NOx7O22WA As we exceeded our target we will be spending the extra money on creating a …

Our Missing Nightwatchmen

A little while ago, we were alerted to the fact that a book of 1830s Belper nightwatchmen’s reports was up for sale. We asked the seller to send it to us so we could see if we wanted to buy the book and the answer was definitely yes! The book details nightly goings-on in Belper …

Charted Territory – celebrating the maps of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site

The Derwent Valley Mills and the surrounding landscape were inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2001. This recognition is well deserved as the valley saw the birth of the factory system, when new types of building were erected to house new technology for spinning cotton. Snaking 15 miles down the valley of …

Family History – Next Steps

A guide to help you dig deeper into your family history and add flesh to the bones. Where your ancestor lived: See the guides to building history for the types of sources available for finding out where your ancestors lived. Where your ancestor went to school: Admission registers for a large number (though not all …