This page contains articles that I have written for local family history journals and family-history resources such as mailing lists or web sites.
Albert Wilcock, Cinema Pioneer
My great-uncle, Albert Wilcock, left the family joinery business in 1912 to start a pioneering venture in the emerging medium of the cinema. This article is a short biography.
Published in Issue 9, November 1999.
On the Trail of the Australian Wilcocks
Tracking down the origins of an anonymous family tree that I found in Pontefract Museum proved to be a difficult, but, in the end, rewarding process.
Published in Issue 10, January 2000.
No Plum Pudding aboard the Edwin Fox
My great-great Uncle, George Wilcock emigrated to New Zealand in 1874/75 aboard the barque "Edwin Fox". A fellow passenger on the journey kept a detailed diary and this article looks at some of the aspects that would have affected George Wilcock and his wife Elizabeth.
Published in Issue 11, April 2000.
The Burnt Documents at the PRO
The service records of British soldiers from WW1 were damaged by bombing during WW2. With the help of lottery funding, the surviving papers, which are too fragile to make available to the general public, are being microfilmed and released at the Public Record Office in Kew. This article describes, by virtue of examples, some of the material that you may find.
Published in Issue 14, December 2000.
I have made a lot of progress with my WILCOCK ancestry, going back to the early 17th century. One of the least explored branches is much more recent though; that of the WILCOCK bakers of Pontefract, who owned bakeries in the area during the first half of the 20th century. This article summarises what I know and what I don't.
Published in Issue 14, December 2000.
Using soc.genealogy.surnames Newsgroups
A recap of the methods by which surname interests can be registered, including an example of how to use the soc.genealogy.surnames newsgroups.
N.B.The soc.geneaology.surnames.* newsgroups appear to have been discontinued following a failure on one the the Rootsweb servers earlier this year. [R. Senior, 15th October 2000]