Canterbury Cathedral Archives have just held their second residential weekend on genealogy. People get to be very well looked after in the Cathedral Lodge and then have a full day of displays, problem-solving and lectures/seminars in the search rooms. I gave yet another talk on "Kent Ancestors" and then subjected the class to trying their hand at reading some fifteenth-century wills. An enjoyable time was had by all!
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An impressive crowd at Bexleyheath local studies centre yesterday (still with its own valuable local archive) to hear me on talk on Kent Ancestors, an introduction to Kent genealogy. My recent royalty cheque suggests that writing the book has all been very worthwhile; let's hope that lots of new Kentish pedigrees are now being constructed! My 2016 speaking programme concluded yesterday with a large crowd at Gravesend library to hear about my new book "Tracing Your Kent Ancestors" and where to look next. It was clear that genealogy is not always only about the dead, as several people were hard-pressed to find lost living relatives. Despite the age of information overload, this is still a common problem, and at least one person went away confident of where to look next. We look forward to many more such occasions in 2017! Good reviews and feedback from the Crayford lecture on Bryan Faussett, a great turn-out and an engaging audience. "Dr. Wright's lecture, on Bryan Faussett and his excavations in Kent, opened a window to a hitherto unknown 18th archaeologist and his equally unknown Anglo-Saxon finds of extraordinary quality. It appears that an excursion to Liverpool to view these artefacts would be well advised. Our members were delighted to learn about this almost-local pioneering antiquary, and Dr. Wright is to be applauded in bringing Bryan Faussett to the attention of a wider audience." - Crayford Manor House Historical Society A full house last night at Ashford Library for a seminar on Kent Ancestors. I covered a lot of ground from which many people got some new ideas as to how to overcome their genealogical brick walls, including especially Kent's wonderful probate accounts and inventories as well as the many series of early mediaeval records which are in print and indexed, and perhaps deserve to be better known. Many thanks to Karin Backlog and the staff at Ashford Library for making it a successful event. A busy hour talking at the Canterbury Beaney last night about 'Kent Ancestors' where the evening almost became a problem surgery for those present. Every family tree hits brick walls, so one or two were surmounted, or at least the enquirers were given good leads to follow up. A 'problems' workshop would seem a good idea for the not too distant future. Even with the amount of information now available on the web, this has in no way affected how people must develop good research procedures to make the most of how they construct their pedigrees. The next Talk Tuesday, 8th November 2016, 'Tracing Your Kent Ancestors' - Talk and Book-signing, 7:00pm Ashford Library, Church Road, Ashford, Kent The Kent Family History Society's A.G.M. was well attended last week in the rather splendid village hall at Headcorn. There were two talks, displays and a busy bookstall, including me on a little separate table singing the praises of my 'Tracing Your Kent Ancestors'; my old business days sales pitch seems not to have deserted me as I managed to dispose of signed copies well into double figures! "Kent Ancestors" has now been placed in virtually all the county's libraries for either reference or borrowing. The word is spreading! Having just finished the preparation of visuals for the displays and presentations for the libraries, looking forward to starting the new season of Talks around Kent starting with Hartley and Kemsing 18th October, Canterbury 27th October and Ashford on 8th November. More listings to follow soon. Oxford University Press Journals, |
Family Tree Magazine asked me to write a few words about what I thought might be potentially valuable but underused (ie not on the Internet!) genealogical sources. Fortunately this was not difficult as East Kent has very rich material, all available at the Canterbury or Maidstone Archives. After the basics, everybody is wanting extra details to flesh out their ancestors' home and lives. |
First book devoted solely to Kent genealogy
After much anticipation I am delighted to find that Pen & Sword have made a fine job of my "Tracing Your Kent Ancestors" (published 16 May) which now joins their impressive list of county volumes. It's based on 40 years of Kentish research and in it I highlight many of the best collections of county records and how to use them. I've kept it all user-friendly, opening with how I got started in looking into my grandfather's 14 brothers and sisters and developing the Wright family tree, and not omitting my early mistakes and how others might avoid them. There's a good selection of document illustrations to tempt people to get started as well!
The book has been published for a year now and sales have been gratifying for what is a semi-specialised volume relating, as I have put it, an academic story with a very human element to it. Many people have been interested in Faussett's local connections all around east Kent, and the large numbers of his ancestors and descendants scattered around this county and further afield. The scholarly world of academic archaeology now has a fully referenced biography to an eighteenth-century pioneer.
The Faussett Collection - What Next?
After just over a year since publication of my biography, the world (we hope!) is a little better informed about Bryan Faussett and his extraordinary archaeological legacy. The major unpalatable fact about his tremendous collection is that it still resides in its entirety at the Liverpool World Museum by the terms of the bequest of the philanthropist Joseph Mayer who saved the Faussett material intact for the nation. There have been several small exhibitions of selected objects over the decades in Kent, as well as for the Society of Antiquaries' tercentenary exhibition at Burlington House in 2007, but the time is probably now right for something more substantial, given that Kent is the principal ancient Anglo-Saxon English county and the one in which many of the great finds have been made. Tentative discussion has already taken place with the Beaney Museum in Canterbury about the possibility of a major Anglo-Saxon exhibition, based at least partly on the Faussett collection, although of course there are many other famous pieces from both Kent and elsewhere. It is hoped that the Kent Archaeological Society may also play a major part in this venture, perhaps to be realised in two or three years' time.
To read reviews from British Archaeology, Journal of Kent History and other professional reviews please visit the Bryan Faussett website.
Bryan Faussett: Antiquary Extraordinary
Last night a receptive and enthusiastic audience who were raising funds for St Mildred's church in Canterbury heard me speak on Bryan Faussett. As the evening progressed (in the church itself) I reminded the audience that we were almost within a stone's throw of the former Faussett ancient seat at Heppington, just south of the city.
For details of Talks and where to order your copy of the book on Bryan Faussett, and to read reviews from British Archaeology, Journal of Kent History and other professional reviews please visit the website.
Tracing Your Kent Ancestors,
a guide for family and local historians
May 2016 sees the publication of my new book which is now available for preorder, preferably from 'the author', via this new website Kent Ancestors. This is the first book entirely devoted to the genealogical records of the historical county of Kent and draws on forty years' professional research as an historian and genealogist. |
We are launching a dedicated website about the book. As mentioned, copies can be ordered directly here, although the book will be available at all major book retailers and also online. This new site will also host the book reviews as they become available along with 'What's On' listings of my talks and book-signings to groups and associations throughout the coming year.
About the book
Genealogically and historically, Kent is an important maritime county which has played a prime defensive role in English history. It is large and diverse, and replete with great houses, castles and other family homes, many with their own archives. It is also a fascinating area of research for family and local historians, and David Wright’s handbook is the perfect guide to it.
For thirty-five years he has been working with the various Kent archives, and his extensive experience means he is uniquely well placed to introduce them to other researchers and show how they can be used. He summarizes the many different classes of Kent records, both national and local. For the first time he draws together the best of modern indexing and cataloguing along with other long-established sources to produce a balanced and up-to-date overview of Kentish genealogical sources – where to find them, their contents and utility to researchers.
Tracing Your Kent Ancestors is essential reading and reference for newcomers to family history, and will be a mine of practical information for researchers who have already started to work in the field.
For thirty-five years he has been working with the various Kent archives, and his extensive experience means he is uniquely well placed to introduce them to other researchers and show how they can be used. He summarizes the many different classes of Kent records, both national and local. For the first time he draws together the best of modern indexing and cataloguing along with other long-established sources to produce a balanced and up-to-date overview of Kentish genealogical sources – where to find them, their contents and utility to researchers.
Tracing Your Kent Ancestors is essential reading and reference for newcomers to family history, and will be a mine of practical information for researchers who have already started to work in the field.
Preorder your copy now . . .
The Journal of Kent History. Issue no 82 March 2016
Reviewer: Kathryn Bedford
Bryan Faussett was an eighteenth-century clergyman whose passion for antiquarian study led him to excavate 777 graves and acquire an internationally significant collection of Anglo-Saxon jewellery and antiquities currently in the Liverpool World Museum. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and friend to other notable antiquaries of the period, including Hasted. As such he is of interest both as an individual and for his place within the history of our own discipline, and this book covers both aspects. Details of Faussett's life and family are interspersed with accounts of his excavations and more general discussion on the history of antiquarianism. |
A member of a longstanding Kentish family, Faussett was born at Nackington near Canterbury and educated at Oxford. As a young man he focused on genealogy and heraldry, producing four volumes on 150 churches around Kent as well as other works. However, it was the systematic excavation of Anglo-Saxon cemeteries throughout East Kent that became his life's work, and over the course of it he discovered a substantial number of artefacts that were to help inform our views on the riches of Anglo-Saxon England. Images of some of his handwritten notes show how concerned he was with recording what he found accurately, a focus that was ahead of his time.
Much of the latter half of the book recounts the long process by which Faussett's discoveries became accessible to the public, including the famous rejection of his collection by the British Museum and images of the watercolour illustrations used for a nineteenth-century publication. These final sections give context to Faussett's life and work, showing him as an innovator respected by his peers, but also highlighting how very new our modern appreciation for artefacts as a source of historical information really is.
This book covers a broad range of topics that may appeal to a variety of people. For those interesting in family or local history there are chapters on the Faussett family, as well as their house and estates. For medieval historians there is an examination of how Faussett's finds illuminate our understanding of Anglo-Saxon death and burial. However, for me this book comes to life in the chapters on Faussett's life as an antiquary. Extensive use is made of Faussett's own notes providing detail of his working practices and ideas in his own words. These insights into the everyday issues on an eighteenth-century dig, before modern archaeological procedures had been developed, highlight the difficulties these enthusiastic pioneers faced.
Much of the latter half of the book recounts the long process by which Faussett's discoveries became accessible to the public, including the famous rejection of his collection by the British Museum and images of the watercolour illustrations used for a nineteenth-century publication. These final sections give context to Faussett's life and work, showing him as an innovator respected by his peers, but also highlighting how very new our modern appreciation for artefacts as a source of historical information really is.
This book covers a broad range of topics that may appeal to a variety of people. For those interesting in family or local history there are chapters on the Faussett family, as well as their house and estates. For medieval historians there is an examination of how Faussett's finds illuminate our understanding of Anglo-Saxon death and burial. However, for me this book comes to life in the chapters on Faussett's life as an antiquary. Extensive use is made of Faussett's own notes providing detail of his working practices and ideas in his own words. These insights into the everyday issues on an eighteenth-century dig, before modern archaeological procedures had been developed, highlight the difficulties these enthusiastic pioneers faced.
British Archaeology. March / April Issue 2016.Reviewer: Sam Lucy
This is very much a biography, but sections of it will hold considerable interest for archaeologists, particularly those with an interest in the early medieval period. Bryan Faussett (1720-76) was clearly a complex man with many antiquarian interests. He is famed for his excavations of Anglo-Saxon cemeteries in Kent (though he famously interpreted them as the burials of “Britons Romanized” or ‘Romans Britonized”), later published by Charles Roach Smith as the Inventorium Sepulchrale of 1856. This book is based on thorough research using a variety of sources including Faussett’s personal correspondence and household records, and is fascinating for providing detailed context for this period of the history of archaeology. The chapter on Anglo-Saxon death and burial is rather outdated in its approach, and was probably not needed, but this should not be allowed to detract from the value of the book as a whole.
A small but keen audience this morning at Sandwich library to learn about Bryan Faussett, and despite some problems with the electrics!
A full house at Canterbury Waterstone's last night to hear me talk about Bryan Faussett. A small contingent of archaeologists asked some perceptive questions, and sales were gratifyingly brisk.
It seems that my intention of improving Faussett's unjustified partial obscurity is beginning to pay off, and well justified by the interest shown as well as, of course, his magnificent Anglo-Saxon collection.
For more dates of talks and events, do please have a look at the Bryan Faussett website.
A disarmingly honest admission from Archbishop Justin yesterday about a doubt of faith concerning the actions of Isis. Doubt is a sure part of faith and we deceive ourselves if we deny that it is in us. And a brave and truthful C of E cinema advertisement about prayer which was rejected in a cowardly way, perhaps for fear of reduced audiences. Believers do watch films as well!
Thank you so much for a really excellent talk yesterday evening – I thoroughly enjoyed it and it was clear that the audience were appreciative too. We ask our audiences to score our events out of six for being informative, interesting and enjoyable, and your scores were all 5’s and 6’s:
“Very informative on a subject I was in complete ignorance about. Thank you”
“Very good”
I wish you all the very best with your upcoming talks. Please do let me know when your next book is published, and if you have a talk related to this one I would be delighted to host again.
Canterbury Library, at The Beaney
On Thursday I spoke to an enthusiastic audience about Bryan Faussett at one of the Canterbury Beaney's public lecture evenings. Some perceptive questions were asked and mostly answered!
St Nicholas-at-Wade
On Friday I spoke to the junior classes at St Nicholas-at-Wade school about Bryan Faussett and Anglo-Saxon England. They have had a year's introduction to the subject, so a lively discussion ensued. Needless to say, the image of the gold Kingston brooch held them enthralled!
Next Talks
The next talks on Bryan Faussett are 7:00pm, Tuesday 17th November at Ashford Library, then at Canterbury Waterstone's on Wednesday 25 November at 6.30pm.
Wednesday 28 October, 10.30am - 4.00pm
Reading old documents: a study day at the Medway Archives in Rochester. Come and learn to read 16th and 17th century handwriting under my watchful eye by looking at original documents in a small friendly group.
Please book directly with the Medway Archives on 01634 332714.
Please book directly with the Medway Archives on 01634 332714.
In preparation for the book-signing on Saturday 4th July, 10:00am until 2:00pm our small display about the book is now showing at Whitstable Library.
Each panel of the display offers a thought-provoking insight into a particular aspect of the man, Bryan Faussett, and his 'ground-breaking' work (literally) in an era when the conventions of recording systems and dating of artefacts had yet to be discovered. Thanks to Frances O'Gorman for the creation of this display.
Each panel of the display offers a thought-provoking insight into a particular aspect of the man, Bryan Faussett, and his 'ground-breaking' work (literally) in an era when the conventions of recording systems and dating of artefacts had yet to be discovered. Thanks to Frances O'Gorman for the creation of this display.
For more information of the 'Meet The Author' libraries event: What's On In Kent, Local.