THE FUTURE OF FAMILY HISTORY
As we welcome in a new year, Dr Nick Barratt invites us to look ahead at what the coming decades might hold for family history – and sounds a timely warning that the excitement around new digital releases should prompt us to think about how we use the wealth of data available
We’ve always been fascinated by what our ancestors got up to, pretty much since our Tudor forebears began to compile extensive pedigrees that claimed aristocratic or armigerous descent, driven in part by Richard III’s creation of the College of Arms in 1484 and as a direct result of the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1520s and 1530s. Vast swathes of land previously held by these religious houses were seized by the crown and sold off to private individuals, who sought to legitimise their new riches and social status by claiming descent from more illustrious families. Such was the level of interest – and increasing concern amongst some of the elite about the validity of the claims being made – that the royal heralds were sent round the shires to gather proof, which was collected by the College of Arms and used as evidence for later works such as Debrett’s Peerage or Burke’s Landed Gentry.
There are two parallels with today. Our sensible caution over the accuracy of current-day online content should also be applied to many of these historic pedigrees, as quite a few appear to have been an exercise in wish-fulfilment; human nature being what it is, money may have changed hands to buy the approval of the heralds who were sent to check them. Equally, isn’t it odd that at times of major national disruption, people turn to their roots for
