Sue Cook and the team answer listeners' historical queries and celebrate the way in which we all 'make' history.
Series 13
Programme 11
27听June听2006
London's fish business
A Making History listener researching her family tree came across an ancestor who was running a fishmonger's on Oxford Street in London in the mid 19th century. From the records she uncovered it seems he had an interest in a place called Iceland Wharf at Bow. Was this where fish was landed? If not, where did London's fish come from in the 19th century? Richard Daniel went to Billingsgate Market in Docklands to find out more.
Making History consulted Chris Leftwich of the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers and Chris Ellmers of the Museum in Docklands.
Much of the fish at this time was caught in the river Thames or Thames estuary or by boats based in the Thames. Fishing smacks from Barking and Greenwich would fish in the North Sea and then the catch would be rushed to Billingsgate for sale. Billingsgate was not the international market that it is today. In the 1850s the majority of the fish would have been sold to customers operating in a 20-mile radius of the City of London.
Keeping fish fresh was a problem. Ice was not widely available in the early years of the 19th century but by the 1850s it was being imported first from America and then from Norway. Some was also produced locally. It is highly likely that Iceland Wharf听in Bow was used for ice and not fish.
Useful links听
Civil War camp followers
Making History consulted Dr Mark Stoyle of the University of Southampton about women camp followers during the English Civil War.
Mark Stoyle has written a book: 听 (Yale Press, 2005)
Tracing conscientious objectors
Conscientious objectors were 'tried' at county hearings during the First World War but on a regional basis during the Second World War. For the family historian this means that searches for relatives who may have been objectors in the First World War need to contact the County Records Office in the county where the regiment was based or the archive of that particular regiment. The National Archives only has records from the Middlesex Regiment for the First World War. For relatives who refused to fight on moral grounds in the Second World War, The National Archives is the best starting point.听
will arrange for research to be carried out but will charge a fee for this service.听
Useful links
- Conscientious Objection in Britain during the First World War听
Hebridean Connections
This is a new online family history resource, available from August 2006. The ambition is to bring together the disparate local history collections from throughout the Western Isles so that researchers can access photographic as well as text-based information about their ancestors.听
* Do you have Hebridean ancestors? Making History is keen to follow a listener using this online resource to illustrate what discoveries can be made.
Vanessa has presented听science and current affairs programmes for 大象传媒, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery and has presented for 大象传媒 Radio 4 & Five Live and a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, Scotsman and Sunday Herald.听
Contact Making History
Send your comments and questions for future programmes to:
Making History
大象传媒 Radio 4
PO Box 3096 Brighton
BN1 1PL
Vanessa has presented听science and current affairs programmes for 大象传媒, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery and has presented for 大象传媒 Radio 4 & Five Live and a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, Scotsman and Sunday Herald.听