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
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.