Category Archives: History

Remembering Rachel

Posted on September 4, 2023 by rhbblog

Ancestry popped up a birthday reminder the other day for my paternal great-grandmother, Rachel, which prompted me to collate the slightly sparse story I’ve been able to collate for her. She was born in Pontefract to Harriet and Peter Heptinstall … Continue reading →

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Lily, for remembrance…

Posted on July 19, 2023 by rhbblog

Not that I do, actually. Remember Lily, that is. She was one of my lovely great-aunts and she died suddenly, aged 62, when I was just 3. Lily was born 128 years ago today to Sarah (née Helliwell) and Frank … Continue reading →

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On this day…

Posted on June 17, 2023 by rhbblog

I had an email from a cousin a few days ago with the following message about a little discovery he’d made. “Now we know where our parents were 66 years ago! See attached picture of a signed beer mat from … Continue reading →

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Season of Remembrance

Posted on November 7, 2022 by rhbblog

An anniversary post for this season of remembrance. John Edgar Hardy was born to my great-great-grandparents, John, a fishmonger, and Mary Ann, in 1883 in Halifax, one of several siblings. They lived at 5 Briar Court. (I say ‘several’ rather … Continue reading →

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Tracks and traces

Posted on November 1, 2022 by rhbblog

Just another inconsequential but somehow satisfying and serendipitous little find from my genealogy meanderings. You have been warned. I was doing some transcription work for a family history society and while checking records in the 1939 register, came across Arthur … Continue reading →

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On the Brink

Posted on September 27, 2022 by rhbblog

I was transcribing some school log information for a family history society and needed to check an address in Hebden Bridge. I hadn’t been sure if it was Brink or Bank but a quick search turned up Buttress Brink in … Continue reading →

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Little Discoveries, Bigger Picture…

Posted on September 20, 2022 by rhbblog

I dabble in genealogy and suddenly remembered tonight that Find My Past had offered free access to their newspaper archives over the long weekend. There wasn’t time left for any major research, so I contented myself with a slightly manic … Continue reading →

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Not bad…

Posted on September 14, 2022 by rhbblog

…for a lad from the back streets of Halifax who spent half his childhood (as did his sister) in a children’s home/orphanage, as I’ve touched on elsewhere. Their mum was a seamstress and in the Depression years work was hard … Continue reading →

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Remembering mum

Posted on June 21, 2022 by rhbblog

My lovely mum on what would have been her 95th birthday. I have a couple of treasured pictures taken of our family (in best bib and tucker in the garden at Maru, Northern Nigeria) by Gavin Carr, colleague of my … Continue reading →

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Connections and digressions

Posted on March 6, 2022 by rhbblog

I posted these two pictures in a Facebook Group, Calderdale Then and Now, as I had spotted someone else’s similar post about the bad winter of 1962-3. We had returned from Nigeria for good (or so my parents thought) in … Continue reading →

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