Free searchable Military database of Soldiers in later Medieval England. Marden, Kent Memorial Inscriptions. UK Genealogy Archives. Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (NCSE)

The Soldier in later Medieval England.

Whether you are fortunate enough to be tracing your family history into late 14th - 15th centuries in England or if you are carrying out a one name study or are interested in early occurrences of your family names this free searchable database should be looked at. Not just English soldiers are recorded but also Welsh, Scottish and some other nationalities.

"The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) awarded a Research Grant worth just under £500,000 to Dr Adrian Bell of the ICMA Centre and Professor Anne Curry of the University of Southampton to challenge assumptions about the emergence of professional soldiery between 1369 and 1453".   The project has produced a valuable on-line searchable resource for public use that is of interest to genealogists as well as historians. 

The database really consists of three searchable databases. A great many of the people listed are not Nobles or Gentry (though they are listed as well) but 'ordinary' men, Men at Arms, Archers etc. First name, Surname, Rank, the Captain, The Commander, the year, Activity (Naval, garrison etc) are amongst the details given. The Protection Database gives more information such as (if known) length of service, where served, occupation, nationality etc.  

Muster roll database consists of about  94,962 service records taken from muster rolls, held at The National Archives (TNA), for the years 1369 - 1453.

  

Protection database.  Some 25,495 records that are taken from the treaty rolls, gascon rolls and Scottish rolls housed in The National Archives (TNA), for the years 1369 - 1453.

Normandy Garrison database.  About 128,525 records drawn from mainly French repositories and record service for the English crown, in the occupation of Normandy from 1415 - 1453.

The database can be searched at  The Soldier in Late Medieval England


Marden, Kent Memorial Inscriptions.

Marden Parish Church and the Marden History Group have jointly placed the MI's for St Michael and All Saints Church. The Memorial Inscriptions are of those buried in the churchyard, memorial plaques in the church as well as those buried at the former Wesleyan Chapel and at the Congregational Church. The database includes Memorials that have been removed. There is also a grid plan of the churchyard. The Marden MI's can be found  Here 

UK Genealogy Archives.

A growing site of various Free sources. UK Genealogy Archives  It has a database of transcripts of Marriage records extracted from many parish registers published by Phillimore & Co. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: "Phillimore Parish Registers - Marriages series". Clicking on the name in the search result takes you to a scan of the original publication. There are no Kent Parishes but with the movement of people it could be that an ancestor in Kent was born and or married elsewhere. Volumes currently indexed are:

Berkshire Parish Registers - Marriages volume 1-2
Derbyshire Parish Registers - Marriages volume 1-4
Gloucestershire Parish Registers - Marriages volume 4
Somerset Parish Registers - Marriages volume 2

There are other resources available on the site including The Heralds Visitations of Kent 1619. The entire publication is available free to view, some 260 pages. Though it is not searchable and thus has to be 'read' in the 'old fashioned way' the book itself has an index. The Heralds Visitations 

The Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (ncse)

At  The Nineteenth-Century Serials Index there is a free, online edition of six 19th century periodicals and newspapers. They are fully searchable, the results of which will take you to a copy of the page. You can also browse through the issues.

Monthly Repository (1806-1837) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833). Northern Star (1838-1852). Leader (1850-1860). English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864). Tomahawk (1867-1870). Publishers’ Circular (1880-1890)

If you are interested in what your ancestors might have read and what might have influenced them this site will give you an idea. Some periodicals such as English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864) covers the period when an attempt was made to allow married women to own property. The paper demonstrated the potential for women to play a full part in nineteenth-century society.

The site is a collaboration between Birbeck, University of London, King's College London, the British Library, and Olive Software. It was funded from January 2005 to December 2007 by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.