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Tracing Your Ancestors
Tracing Your Shipbuilding Ancestors: A Guide For Family Historians
Anthony Burton's concise and informative guide to British shipbuilding will be absorbing reading for anyone who wants to learn about its history or find out about the life of a shipbuilder and his family. In a clear and accessible way he traces its development from the medieval period to its peak in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and on into the present day. He describes how, at the height of its powers, it was of immense importance. It employed tens of thousands of workers, so a large proportion of the population today has some connection with it. And this great industry was also so widespread that wherever you move around the coast of Britain, you will never be far from a former shipbuilding center.
This practical handbook will be an invaluable guide for family and local historians and for readers with a more general interest in shipbuilding. It introduces the variety of national and local records that are available for genealogical research and considers the many other resources that can yield fascinating information about the industry and those who worked in it.
This practical handbook will be an invaluable guide for family and local historians and for readers with a more general interest in shipbuilding. It introduces the variety of national and local records that are available for genealogical research and considers the many other resources that can yield fascinating information about the industry and those who worked in it.
144 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2010
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About the author
Anthony Burton
183 books8 followersBorn in 1934 Anthony Burton is an author and broadcaster who specialises mostly in industrial and transport history since his first book in the area, The Canal Builders, was published in 1972. As well as canals, railways and other forms of transport, his interests also include the countryside and landscape history.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 20, 2023
Anthony Burton, Tracing Your Shipbuilding Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen and Sword Family History, 2010.
This is a concise introduction to genealogical research into British shipbuilders. This is a huge area of research for Britain, the underpinning for the empire, so it is the background for much family history. Readers researching shipbuilding ancestors in other countries may also find the general history helpful.
Tracing Your Shipbuilding Ancestor starts with a chapter description of how to research using documents in public institutions. Most of the book is a history of shipbuilding in Great Britain to provide a researcher with context for changes over the years. It goes from wooden ships to iron, to steam power, and to the building of the Greatest navy on earth. A final chapter outlines the decline in shipbuilding that has seen much of the industry move to other nations.
“Tracing” reads easily and quickly and touches on most subjects likely to come up in genealogical research. A bibliographic chapter includes many helpful books on individual shipyards and includes a special mention of L.A. Ritchie’s excellent "The Shipbuilding Industry."
Note: the British National Archives Shop sells multiple volumes of these guides from Pen and Sword Family History to research genealogical sources in British history.
This is a concise introduction to genealogical research into British shipbuilders. This is a huge area of research for Britain, the underpinning for the empire, so it is the background for much family history. Readers researching shipbuilding ancestors in other countries may also find the general history helpful.
Tracing Your Shipbuilding Ancestor starts with a chapter description of how to research using documents in public institutions. Most of the book is a history of shipbuilding in Great Britain to provide a researcher with context for changes over the years. It goes from wooden ships to iron, to steam power, and to the building of the Greatest navy on earth. A final chapter outlines the decline in shipbuilding that has seen much of the industry move to other nations.
“Tracing” reads easily and quickly and touches on most subjects likely to come up in genealogical research. A bibliographic chapter includes many helpful books on individual shipyards and includes a special mention of L.A. Ritchie’s excellent "The Shipbuilding Industry."
Note: the British National Archives Shop sells multiple volumes of these guides from Pen and Sword Family History to research genealogical sources in British history.
August 3, 2016
Well written and set out, with fascinating information about the history of British shipbuilding. Also some good leads on where to look for records about your own shipbuilding ancestors.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews