Europe

Warwickshire Family History

Warwickshire UK, is probably best known around the world for it’s most famous son William Shakespeare. It is a fascinating county, largely rural to the south, the North became more industrial as the Industrial Revolution unrolled. It’s industrial heart contains a mixture of mining, clay and cement working, textiles and engineering. It is crossed by…

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Internal Migration

Internal Migration As family historians, one of our objectives is to try to determine where our ancestors originally came from. Another is to try and make sense of and follow their movements. We all have ‘lost’ ancestors, who seem to disappear or pop up in unexpected places! Understanding the social history helps us to make…

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How did the Jamestown colony survive?

Jamestown
This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series American Migration

How did the Jamestown Colonists survive? They went in search of finding their fortunes, full of hope and ambition. The reality was much harsher and more difficult than they could have imagined. Find out here how they survive their rials and tribulations.

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Captain John Smith C17th Capitalist?

The name of Captain John Smith, is, in the minds of many British people intrinsically linked to ‘Pocahontas’ , his native American saviour. Beyond this connection though, his writings on the settlement of Virginia are quite vigorous and erudite and he could be judged as having a very positive influence on how the New England…

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Expansion of England in C17th

England in the 17th century, it’s trade and expansion, how and why did England achieve such an expansion in it’s markets? What was happening that enabled England to dominate trade?

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Tension between East India Company & British Government 1784

Tension East India Company and British Government The East India Company Act of 1784 The British presence in India was a result of the trading opportunities grasped by the East India Company way back at the start of the C17th. The company monopolised trade, had it’s own armies and ruled and regulated itself. The 18th century saw…

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James Watt and the Industrial Revolution 1774

James Watt
This entry is part 7 of 6 in the series Industrial Inventions and Innovations

James Watt and the Industrial Revolution The inventor of the first practical and it should be said, economical steam engine was James Watt, an instrument maker from Glasgow who saw the problems with earlier engines such as Newcomen’s engine. A man with a fastidious eye for details, Watt saw the potential to improve the engine…

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Captain James Cook Mariner Navigator born 1728 Yorkshire

Where was Capt James Cook born in 1728 and what led to his distinguished naval career pioneering navigation…did your relatives know him, was your family connected and did any of your family sail with him on his famous expeditions, see our series of James Cook posts…

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