The Bower & Collier Family History

A Local History Project where I traced a Victorian Lady who lived in the Lymington area in 1883-1893 and kept a Calling Book that my mother bought on Lymington market.

The Project is summarised in a series of articles with a Final Report:

Find the Lady! Index

Naval History

Sinking of the SS Britannia in 1941

My father was a passenger on the Britannia

He was rescued from a lifeboat by the Spanish vessel Cabo de Hornos and I helped him write up his personal account of survival, since when there has been an extraordinary amount of contact with descendants of others who survived the sinking:

The Sinking of the SS Britannia

Family History

The Big One!

Some years ago now, I decided to summarise/type up my family history records into a series of Family Research Project Reports starting with some of the names where there has been less research, before moving onto the main 16 names. This will be the biggest project I have ever undertaken and will take some years to complete.

The Big One!

Brecht One-Name Study

I have undertaken a detailed study into the name Brecht, my mother's maiden name, and the descendants of Heinrich (Henry) Brecht and his two wives Mary Somes and Harriet Piper:

Brecht One-Name Study

Silk Weavers named Collier

Research into Silk Weavers named Collier (my wife Chris' maiden name) living in Shoreditch, Spitalfields and Bethnal Green in East London in 18th & 19th Centuries with possible links to weavers of Huguenot descent (including Gaucheron/Kemp:)

Silk Weavers named Collier

During this research, progress has been summarised: