In 2018 it will be 100 years since the Duke of Richmond and Gordon gave Priory Park to the people of Chichester for their leisure and as a perpetual memorial to those who lost their lives in during WWI. Priory Park 100 is an initiative run by the Friends of Priory Park to celebrate this centenary…
Tag: records
International Women’s Day: West Sussex Women and the Centenary of Suffrage
Between the centenary of the Representation of the People Act on 6th Feb 2018, which granted the first women the right to vote, and International Women's Day on 8th March, we have been using Twitter and Instagram to share some of the notable West Sussex women involved in the campaign for suffrage. Using the tag #WestSussexWomen you can follow…
Continue reading ➞ International Women’s Day: West Sussex Women and the Centenary of Suffrage
A Slice of Life – The Quarter Sessions records
Back in January 2012, West Sussex Record Office Conservator Simon Hopkins and I thought up a plan to make the Quarter Sessions rolls more accessible. These are local government records: essentially the business of the courts which ran the administration of the county before the advent of the County Council. The earliest ones are fascinating…
Continue reading ➞ A Slice of Life – The Quarter Sessions records
Queen Victoria Hospital Archive project: Introducing the project
As regular readers of this blog will be aware, since 2016 WSRO has been engaged in a major project involving the archive of the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, which became known during the Second World War as the centre for the treatment of the ‘Guinea Pig Club’, the RAF…
Continue reading ➞ Queen Victoria Hospital Archive project: Introducing the project
Women’s Suffrage in West Sussex
This month sees the centenary of a major success for women’s suffrage. When the Representation of the People Act became law on 6th February 1918, women over 30, who were occupiers of property or married to occupiers, became entitled to vote for the first time in British history. West Sussex Libraries have been finding out…
Witchcraft and the ‘Wicked Women’ of Sussex
Prior to the British Witchcraft Act of 1735, the infamous witch trails of the Early Modern period saw widespread moral panic sweep through a religiously unstable Europe, resulting in the horrific punishment of individuals for their supposed sorcery. Although no instances of witch drowning or burning have been evidenced in West Sussex, accusations of witchcraft still led to the persecution…
Continue reading ➞ Witchcraft and the ‘Wicked Women’ of Sussex
Record of The Month
Forgery and Scandal at Chichester Old Bank I first came across the story around this month’s record when volunteering at Chichester District Museum (now the Novium). The Social History Curator at the time said that sometime in the early 1800s a man -John Binstead, a drawing teacher, was charged with forging a bank note from…
A day in the life of…
Work experience student, Kathryn Mersey I’ve been on my second Work Experience placement at West Sussex Record Office this week; after being so inspired by my first, in 2015, I couldn’t wait to come back! On my first placement I was introduced to some of the diverse and mysterious departments behind the scenes, like Screen…
Record of the Month
The mystery of the Mary Celeste continues at West Sussex Record Office Although we receive all manner of enquiries here at the Record Office, some cause us to investigate a little further, or highlight records within our collections that deserve a closer look. One such enquiry was made last week, regarding a Certificate of Discharge…
Sussex and the US: Closer than you think
In the final instalment of our American-themed blogs to celebrate Independence Day, we are looking at the many and varied connections between famous faces in America’s history and the county of Sussex. Founded in the 17th and 18th centuries, thirteen British colonies on the east coast of North America declared independence in 1776 and formed the United States of…