Saturday 25 October 2008

UK incoming passenger lists go online

This week a new set of records went online containing details of more than 18 million immigrants, business travellers, tourists and returning emigrants and their descendants who arrived in the UK by boat in the period 1878 to 1960.

The records are from the National Archives and made available on-line by the Ancestry web site. It is free to search - but there is a charge for viewing the full entry and downloading images of the passenger lists. TV presenter and family history enthusiast Tony Robinson was on hand for the launch.

The passenger lists are for people arriving in the United Kingdom from ports outside of Europe and the Mediterranean and may include: name of passenger, their birth date or age, port of departure, port of arrival, date of arrival and vessel name.

The press coverage of the lauch concentrated on some of the well-known names that are included in the lists - but the collection also includes many Daglish entries. These mostly refer to those travelling abroad for work or pleasure and returning home, although some refer to families which have moved permanently overseas and are returning for family reasons.

This is an interesting new resource for family historians.

National Archives news release

The Independent article

The Herald article

Daily Mail article

WWT Nikon Photography Competition 2008

Anthony Daglish from Wallsend has won a top prize in the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) Nikon Photography Competition 2008.

His image of Washington’s record-breaking avocets fought off competition from WWT’s eight other UK wetland centres to be named number one in its category by the judges.

In July 2006 a pair of avocets – which traditionally nest in southern England – hatched two chicks at WWT Washington Wetland Centre, the most northerly ever recorded in the UK. They have since bred and successfully reared young in both 2007 and 2008.

Anthony, 34, only took up photography two years ago, after seeing fellow wildlife enthusiasts with cameras in tow.

He said: “I first got into photography after watching other people doing it. It sparked my curiosity and I thought, ‘I wouldn’t mind a shot at that’.

“I’ve always loved birds and have been a keen birdwatcher for years, so it was the next step to start taking pictures of them.”

Details from the Joural Live - full story here.