by Janet Seaward | Oct 30, 2014 | ancestors, ancestry, England, Funeral, Georgian, graves, gravestone, graveyard, halloween, haunting, historical, history, London, memory, Uncategorized, victorian, Victorian style, victorian values
Unlike the Victorians, when it came to holding a funeral, our earlier ancestors thought less about the pleasantries than getting their deceased relatives sent off quickly, cheaply and efficiently. Britain had been besmirched with war, plague, cholera and, in general,...
by Janet Seaward | Sep 15, 2014 | ancestors, ancestry, book research, cars, England, flyover, hammersmith, historical, historical novels, history, invention, lifestyle, London, St Paul's Church, victorian
West London has always had a special meaning for me – mainly due to the Randell family, my ancestors, having been traceable residents in Hammersmith for almost 200 years. They lived in the diocese of St Paul’s Church, which administered to and registered many of...
by Janet Seaward | Sep 8, 2014 | book research, historical, history, London, trains
When the railway began to forge its way across the length and width of England, during the early parts of the 19th century, it was received with every emotion and expletive. But there was no way to stop it; in the name of progress the railway cut its way from...
by Janet Seaward | Aug 7, 2014 | historical, historical novels, London, Uncategorized
Hammersmith was first known as Hamersmyth, perhaps due to the words ‘ham’ meaning village and ‘hythe’ meaning by the harbour; but it could have been more literally derived from hammer and smithy, relating to a place where metal work was done....
by Janet Seaward | Aug 6, 2014 | historical, historical novels, London, Uncategorized
I sometimes sit outside the Blue Anchor pub, convivially situated by the River Thames, on the Lower Mall, in Hammersmith. Pint in hand, I watch the Thames ebb gently under Hammersmith Bridge on its...
