Historic Records News

  Following on from our successful co-sponsorship of the SARA conference in Berkshire earlier this year, we are delighted to be Gold Sponsors at the ARA Conference in Bristol next week. If you're planning on going, do come along and say hello to us at stand 8. 

  When Edgar Wilkes Thorpe sailed for Gallipoli on the 28th August 1915, the youngest of his eight children was just over a month old. There is no date on this postcard/photograph, but the general happy demeanour of the children and Mrs Ann Thorpe suggest that this was taken before Edgar was killed in action on the 15th October 1915, barely six weeks after he had arrived. There is no surviving service record for Edgar but a pension card on the Fold3 website enables us to name the children, from left to right, with their birth date in brackets. They are, Edgar Thorpe (13 Feb 1905), Elizabeth Ann Thorpe (2 Mar 1906), Phyllis Thorpe (2 Jan 1908), Marion Thorpe (31 Dec 1908), John Joseph Thorpe (18 Jan 1910), Gladys Thorpe (8 Feb 1912), Lavinia May Thorpe (9 May 1913) and Leslie Thorpe (25 Jul 1915). Mrs Ann Thorpe was born on the 25th March 1878 and would have been 37 years old when this photograph was taken.  This postcard is one of many which you'll soon be able to search for i...

  Pure coincidence of course that the RAF's 80th Anniversary VE Day flightpath came across Chelmsford - they always do - and very close to the Historic Records office. It was a beautiful, if somewhat cold day, as we stood in the park and took a few shots as the planes came over. It was a shame there were no Spitfires but we are guessing that they were held back after one crashed recently. A Lancaster bomber, not pictured here, led the flypast.

The Americans in France directories were first published in 1924 by the American Chamber of Commerce, and ran until at least 1940 and possibly after the war as well, although we've not come across any editions later than 1940. They provide a great snapshot of American citizentry in France during these years, not to mention the style and essence of Parisian Art Deco in the late 1920s and 1930s.  The image above is a compilation of some of the many adverts published in these directories. Warning to sensitive souls and the easily offended, one of these images contains items associated with smoking.

It's hard to believe that this is only the company's second Easter. This time last year we had two employees. Fast forward twelve months and we have seven full time staff operating in three counties, in addition to dozens of dedicated part-time photographers and researchers up and down the country who continue to help us document and preserve records which family historians find useful when connecting with their ancestors. As most of us in the UK take a well-earned break for four days, we reflect on the 60 million records that Historic Records Limited has licensed since July 2023, and the many millions more which we are working on and which will see the light of day over the coming weeks and months. Happy Easter everyone.

Take a bow Steve, Paul, Alex, Kit, Niharika and Mengzhao. Between us we look after strategic direction, acquisition, digitisation, transcription, IT and infrastructure, research and field work. We don't always look this serious, but we are passionate about what we do. We are headquartered in Chelmsford, Essex in a grade-two listed building close to the city centre.