The A to Z Blogging Challenge is a friendly annual blogging event. Participants post every day of April except Sundays: 26 times, with a contribution for every letter of the alphabet.
This year, 2024—my eleventh Challenge—I wrote about the parish of Whitmore in Staffordshire, England, as it was in the middle of the nineteenth century. I have a family connection with Whitmore through my 4th great grandfather Rowland Mainwaring (1782–1862), who was squire of Whitmore Hall from 1837 to his death in 1862.
My inspiration was a series of presentations given last September by the Society for One-Place Studies, a history group formed to consider ‘people and families in their physical and social context’ at a particular place and time.
For me in Ballarat, Australia, Whitmore is half a world away. A great many of its records have survived, however, and I can visit—at least virtually—the home of my 4th grandfather as it was two hundred years ago.
In 1952 in a lecture to the University College of Leicester, H. P. R. Finberg (1900-1974), head of the Department of English Local History, pointed out that:
History too is “about chaps,” and local history brings us nearer to the common run of chaps than any other branch of historical study. It gives us, in the language of the films, a close-up of them on their farms and in their workshops and behind their counters. It studies them as social beings, as members of a rural or urban community; but by seeking them at their home address it enables us to see them as flesh and blood, and not just as pawns on the national chessboard. The national historian, dealing with some vast agglomeration which he labels villeins, Puritans, the lower middle-class, or what you will, tends to lose sight of the human person.
By looking at various aspects of the history of the parish of Whitmore I learned a great amount about my ‘chaps’, the people who lived there in the nineteenth century, among them my 4th great grandfather.
I was pleased to read a report of Rowland Mainwaring’s views on farming. He had been a sailor, but, he said, “he really did attempt to convert himself into a plodding, pains-taking farmer. He rigged himself out in the most approved agricultural costume — ( the shoes of which took more work out of him in six days than if he had been walking the quarter deck of a man-of-war for six weeks) — (laughter) — and commenced in right good earnest.” I was also interested in his views on the police a letter to one of the local newspapers. He certainly deserved the tribute in his obituary of being remembered as “a kind and considerate landlord, a good neighbour, and an active and upright magistrate”.
I also learned about how very differently things were done in nineteenth century England from the purchase of an advowson—the right to appoint the rector—to how the magistrates system worked, and about local societies for prosecuting felons.
I still have much more to learn about the people who lived in Whitmore and the history of the parish in the nineteenth century. I enjoyed my research and I plan to continue it.
Part of the A to Z challenge is visiting other people’s blogs through the month. I appreciated the visits and comments from other readers, many of whom I have been reading for many years. This last month I followed these blogs especially:
- Debby wrote about family secrets. Rooted by Blood, DNA and a lot of BS: A-Z Theme Reveal – The Stories They Didn’t Want Us To Know
- Jeanne Bryan Insalaco shared some fascinating insights into DNA and how various traits can be inherited. 2024: A… A to Z of DNA and Me: All About my DNA… | Everyone Has a Story
- Jennifer Jones shared newspaper articles from Haverfordwest and I have been interested to read and compare to what was happening in Whitmore in the same era. AtoZChallenge – A: Attempted Murder at Haverfordwest
- Jill Ball posted a great variety of photos of religious buildings from her travels A-Z Blogging Challenge 2024: A is for Altars
- Karen Rhodes wrote about the occupations and professions of her ancestors. Karen About Genealogy: A to Z Challenge
- Kristin Cleage wrote about the Edelweiss Club which her grandmother belonged to in Montgomery, Alabama. There were thirty seven young women who met monthly at each other’s houses in 1918 and 1919. It was very interesting to read about the members and the activities of the club. The Edelweiss Club | Finding Eliza
- Linda Curry shared a story first told to her at bedtime by her father and more recently that she had told to her grandchildren. I eagerly waited each day for the next instalment and was pleased they all lived happily ever after. Step and Tear
- Liz Graydon also wrote about a place: Cuckfield in Sussex. Some of Greg’s ancestors came from there so I was very interested to follow along. Cuckfield Compendium: A-Z Challenge 2024 : April 1. A:- All Saints Mission Room
- Molly Charboneau wrote about her parents Theme Reveal – My Life: The Prequel (in Snapshots) #atozchallenge2024 | MOLLY’S CANOPY
- Sarah Zama wrote about the 1920s and the “Lost Generation”: that generation of people who, born between 1883 and 1900, came of age in the years of the Great War and were, therefore, young in the 1920s. The Lost Generation (#AtoZChallenge 2024) Theme Reveal
- Vince Rockston is writing a novel about the oldest child of a Huguenot family in Normandy, France: Greet Suzon for me. His posts were about Life in seventeenth century France and the struggles faced by members of the Huguenot community. As I have many Huguenot forebears who fled France in the seventeenth century I found his posts of great interest. Vince Rockston, Author: AtoZ Challenge April 2024
There were a number of other blogs I visited throughout the month and I was also visited by various bloggers who left comments.
My blog was visited by 1740 people with 3761 views. There were 250 comments. Last April I had 1355 visitors, 3281 views, and 246 comments.
See you all again next year.
– Anne
My 2024 A to Z posts:
- A to Z Blogging about Whitmore, England
- A is for the Admiral
- B is for Baldwins Gate
- C is for census
- D is for directories
- E is for election
- F is for farmers
- G is for gamekeepers and poachers
- H is for Halleluljah!
- I is for inns
- J is for Justice of the Peace
- K is for visit of the King
- L is for London & NorthWestern Railway
- M is for manslaughter
- N is for Newcastle-under-Lyme
- O is for occupations
- P is for police
- Q is for Queen Victoria jubilee – church clock tower
- R is for rectors
- S is for schools
- T is for tithes
- U is for Poor Law Union
- V is for views of Whitmore
- W is for the Whitmore Association for the Prosecution of Felons
- Marriage with an X
- Y is for why not celebrate
- Z is for zigzag
Wikitree: Whitmore, Staffordshire One Place Study