Celebrating our collections dating from 780AD to the present day
By Victoria Evans, Searchroom Archivist Following on from last year's blog post about what Christmas was like at Chichester Workhouse, this year we will be exploring how the festive period was celebrated at Graylingwell Hospital specifically during World War One. Once again, we have turned to a newspaper article to give us a glimpse into…
Ian Everest - Guest Speaker Some forty years ago Ian Everest started out on the journey of researching his family history and just like many others who embark on the same path, his life has never been the same since! It brought about change of career into an occupation which was directly related to his…
Continue reading ➞ Tuesday Talk: The Women’s Land Army – a Sussex connection
To mark the centenary of the end of the First World War, staff at West Sussex Record Office have shared their stories of family members who were caught up in the conflict. When the Worthing Gazette was published on Wednesday August 16th 1916 right at the bottom of page 7 was a four line notice…
Continue reading ➞ WW1 Centenary: Staff Stories, Private H P Pocock
I have recently started looking into my military family history and it has been a fascinating journey. I have discovered amazing stories of people I never knew existed. One of these people is Charles Wickers, my great great uncle. I would like to share just a little bit of his story with you. Charles was…
Continue reading ➞ WW1 Centenary: Staff Stories, Charles Wickers
To mark the centenary of the end of the First World War, staff at West Sussex Record Office have shared their stories of family members who were caught up in the conflict. My great grandfather James (Jim) Horace Wright was born in Hackney on 22nd April 1891, the son of James and Esther Wright, and…
Continue reading ➞ WW1 Centenary: Staff Stories, James Horace Wright
To mark the centenary of the end of the First World War, staff at West Sussex Record Office have shared their stories of family members who were caught up in the conflict. Edward Dare Evans, my great grandfather, was born on 21 February 1875. He was the fifth child of six, and his father William…
Continue reading ➞ WW1 Centenary: Staff Stories, Edward Dare Evans
By Emma Worrall Men returning from the war faced many problems, financial, mental, and physical, issues which affected their families too. Others did not return at all, creating a new set of challenges for their wives, children, and parents. Some servicemen were fortunate enough to return to jobs kept open for them, such as International Stores’,…
Continue reading ➞ Great War West Sussex: those who returned and those who were left behind
I had assumed that every patient who died in a UK war hospital during World War 1 would have a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) headstone, but I was wrong….. I am cataloguing the records of Graylingwell Hospital in Chichester, among which are some items about Graylingwell War Hospital (1915-1919). There are no existing formal…
Continue reading ➞ In Remembrance – Driver George Slater – Graylingwell War Hospital – WW1
Chosen by Louise Goldsmith, Leader of West Sussex County Council One of my most favourite pleasures is visiting our Record Office. It never fails in providing interesting snippets of what was happening in the county at any one time and I naturally feel very proud of WS Record Office. As a local politician I…
West Sussex Record Office 