Chapter X

AN ADDITIONAL LIST OF PUBLICATIONS WHICH MAY BE USEFUL WHEN TRACING A PEDIGREE

Chamberlain’s _Angliæ Notitia; or, The Present State of Great Britain_, commenced in 1663, and was continued nearly every year until 1755. If information is required between these dates as to the professional or official classes, this will be found a valuable work to consult.

_The London Gazette_ supplies still more comprehensive records with regard to the professions, learned and otherwise. Public appointments are here notified, the conferment of honours, promotions in the Church, Army, and Navy, etc. It commenced in 1665, and is now issued twice weekly.

The records of local societies and local magazines may often profitably be consulted.

Of the former the following are the most useful:--

The _Antiquarian Societies_ of Batley and Bradford (Yorkshire), also of Beverley, Heckmondwicke, Lancashire and Cheshire, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Isle of Man.

The _Archæological Societies_ of Bristol and Gloucestershire, Burton-on-Trent, Derbyshire, Durham, Essex, Kent, London and Middlesex, Northamptonshire, St. Albans, Scarborough, Shropshire, Somerset, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex, Wilts, Worcester, and Yorkshire; the Cambrian Archæological Society, the Somerset Record Society, and the Surtees’ Society, Durham.

The following local magazines may also be referred to:--

_The Western Antiquary._

_Notes and Queries_, respectively issued for the following districts: Bedfordshire, Devon, Fenland, Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire, Cheshire, and Manchester.

_Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Notes._

_The Manx Notebook._

_The Palatine Notebook._

Where information is sought as to _Members of Parliament_, the _Blue Book Returns_ should be consulted, and a valuable official work, _Returns to Two Orders of the House of Commons_ (dated 4th May 1876 and 9th March 1877) _of the Names of every Member returned to Serve in each Parliament from the Earliest Time to 1874_.

Cave’s _Parliamentary Register_ brings the list of members down to 1741; _The Chronological Register of Parliament from 1707 to 1807_, by Robert Beatson, gives the required information between these dates.

Besides the MS. authorities with regard to the Army and Navy which have already been enumerated, printed books on the subject, especially if the searcher is not looking for very early information, should not be ignored. Of course there are, as every one knows, official _Army_ and _Navy Lists_, and a good deal of genealogical information may be derived from other books, as especially as regards the Navy.

Notable amongst these are:--

_A Naval Biographical Dictionary_, by W. R. O’Byrne.

_Biographia Navalis; or, Memoirs of the Officers of the Army from_ 1600, by John Charnock, 4 vols., 1794.

_English Army-Lists_, etc., 1661-1714, by Charles Dalton, 6 vols., 1892-1904.

_Lives of British Admirals_, by John Campbell, 4 vols., 1779; new edition, 8 vols., 1812-17; abridged edition, 1847.

Of the two works of the _Old Record Commission_, dated 1801 and 1837 respectively, the latter will be found especially useful, as it contains returns from many of the various depositories of documents in Great Britain, notably The Tower, Houses of Parliament, etc.

Cotton’s _Fasti_ contains a store of information, biographical and genealogical, about Church dignitaries, and certain searches among parochial registers may be obviated by a perusal of Marshall’s _Parish Registers_, for, as has previously been mentioned, a great many of such are obtainable in print.

_The International Genealogical Directory_ should be consulted, as it contains much which might be of great importance to the searcher. He should also make himself acquainted with the very useful genealogical handbooks published by Mr. C. A. Bernau of Walton-on-Thames.

The number of _County Histories_ increases rapidly, and the pedigree-hunter should consult those which are connected with the special districts in which he is interested.

From the _Victoria County Histories_ to those compiled by private individuals, all may be of more or less importance to the genealogical student.