Church or Chapel?
“Are you church or chapel?”
It sounds like a small question today. But well into the twentieth century in England, it revealed a great deal about a person — their beliefs, their community, even their social identity.
Why You Don’t Really Have a Billion Ancestors
Or pedigree collapse and the hidden web of shared ancestry. Not billions of strangers. But millions of shared forebears—ordinary people whose lives intertwined in ways that still shape us today.
Why Doubt Your Version of History?
Fragments of the past: every record tells a story, but none tells the whole story Family historians (genealogists) are sometimes regarded with suspicion by “proper”… Read More »Why Doubt Your Version of History?
William Packwood, tailor and Baptist preacher
William Packwood was a tailor and Baptist preacher in Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire.
The mission that began in a Circus: Ned Weeks and Abington Square
For more than twenty years, Ned Weeks preached to packed halls of working men and women, shaping a chapter of Northampton’s religious life that would be remembered long after his death.
Ambush at Wallbank
On a dark Wednesday night in September 1769, the quiet road between Northampton and Kingsthorpe became the scene of a shocking act of violence that would end on the gallows.
William Craddock and his family
Three generations of the Craddock family of Kingsthorpe, Northamptonshire. (c1680-1770)
Parks, Libraries and Leisure: Northampton’s Social Life in the 1920s
In the 1920s, increased opportunities for leisure were an important part of life for the working classes.
Schools, Skills and Community: Education in Northampton, 1913–1924
In the early 20th century, the increasing demands for a skilled workforce required investment in education, both formal iinformal, in Northampton.
Work, Housing and Health: Northampton Behind the Numbers
In 1924, the boot and shoe industry dominated Northampton’s workforce. The Boot and Shoe Operatives Trade Union had 13,104 members; officials estimated that only 5% of adult workers were outside the union.