North West Kent Family History Society
@nwkfhs.bsky.social
We are one of Kent's and the UK's premier Family History Societies - if you want to find out more why not take a look at our website: https://www.nwkfhs.org.uk
Dartford Talk: Some Lost Houses of Crayford by Janet Hearn-Gillham www.nwkfhs.org.uk/events/overv... #NWKFHS #Kent #Genealogy
Dartford Talk: Some Lost Houses of Crayford by Janet Hearn-Gillham
Who better to reveal the lost houses of Crayford ? Situated on the old Watling Street and not far from London, Crayford was a very pleasant location for country houses to be built, nearly all...
nwkfhs.org.uk
It’s a great society, lots of online meetings/webinars for those of us who aren’t local. They are on here too @nwkfhs.bsky.social #GenHour
🗞️ Summer 2026 newsletter: www.kentarchives.org.uk/archive-newsletter Enjoy articles about the Bowra Family of #Sevenoaks, newly catalogued collections inc. the records of #Maidstone Swimming club (image), our document display for the #NationalYearOfReading, and the retirement of Dr Mark Ballard.
![Shown here is an albumen photograph capturing young and senior members of Maidstone Swimming Club. It lists the club's captain as F. Griffin and the sub-captain as A. Hastie. Created by the London Photographic Co. (Maidstone and Sittingbourne), 1893 [ref. U3360/P2/2]
[Archives@Kent] is the quarterly newsletter published by Kent Archives and Local History Service, Maidstone. From publicising newly catalogued material to exploring documents in detail and sharing information about upcoming events, our newsletters can be delivered straight to your email inbox or accessed at www.kentarchives.org.uk/archive-newsletter
Have yet to subscribe? Contact us today and we’ll be happy to add you to our mailing list –
Email: archives@kent.gov.uk
Telephone: 03000 420 673](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:o3vof7rjobhzoxvub42zxtot/bafkreifrrnuwrefkml34myhv6teimevnvqyzcguioypprgxyepyfgd4v34)
We've recently catalogued records relating to Maidstone and Canterbury prisons, the earliest dating to 1814 🏦⚖️ 🔎 Read more about the Prison Commission collection: www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1352450470414513&set=a.409260708066832 ☟ See PR/Md/3/2/2 #CrimeAndPunishment #History #Kent
![Shown here are entries from a nominal register recording male and female admissions to Maidstone Prison [ref. PR/Md/3/2/2]
Among those offending on the 21st July 1884:
- Ellen, a 16 year old fieldworker. In Chatham, she committed the offence of being drunk and was sentenced to 5 days of hard labour or pay 9/-.
- John, a 52 year old gardener. In Malling, he committed the offence of stealing potatoes and was sentenced to 14 days of hard labour or pay 18/6.
- John, a 28 year old soldier. In Sheerness, he committed the offence of murder and was 'detained during Her Majesty's pleasure'. A note states that he was later 'removed to Broadmoor'.
- David, a 30 year old labourer. In Tunbridge Wells, he committed the offences of vagrancy/neglecting his family and was sentenced to 1 month of hard labour.
- William, a 57 year old labourer. In Tunbridge Wells, he committed the offence of being drunk and disorderly and was sentenced to 10 days of hard labour.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:o3vof7rjobhzoxvub42zxtot/bafkreicuwtghv6vvnxwimvkosbv3b6e2lunvbaatid23t5ws7cjutpocri)
Dartford Talk: Some Lost Houses of Crayford by Janet Hearn-Gillham www.nwkfhs.org.uk/events/overv... #Kent #Genealogy #NWKFHS
Dartford Talk: Some Lost Houses of Crayford by Janet Hearn-Gillham
Who better to reveal the lost houses of Crayford ? Situated on the old Watling Street and not far from London, Crayford was a very pleasant location for country houses to be built, nearly all...
nwkfhs.org.uk
29 July 10.30am Zoom Scottish Interests Discussion Group with Pam Goddard: Scottish militia and military records - where to find them and how they may help with your research nwkfhs.org.uk/events/overv... #NWKFHS #Kent #Genealogy
Back in June, Kent Archives attended a major two-day conference exploring the history of the #CinquePorts from the 13th century to the present day, hosted in the medieval splendour of the Stone Hall at Maison Dieu, #Dover ⚓️ 🔎 Read more about the event: www.facebook.com/KentArchives...
![Shown here is Dr Mark Bateson (Engagement Officer) showing an attendee the 1392 Act of the Brodhull, with its six wax seals of the ports of Hastings, Winchelsea, Rye, Romney, Hythe and Sandwich [ref. Do/CPb1]
Saturday 27th June 2026](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:o3vof7rjobhzoxvub42zxtot/bafkreib7ekh3jslabjj5wsk5kyunzztc6ibq4thev3cmhi4nh73h77mfda)
22 July 7.30pm Zoom Workshop on Adoption with Frances Lake . Frances is the daughter of an adopted person who died without revealing his status. nwkfhs.org.uk/events/overv... #NWKFHS #Kent #Genealogy
15 July 10.30am Zoom DNA Discussion Group with Laura Lincoln nwkfhs.org.uk/events/overv... #NWKFHS #Kent #Genealogy
Back in May, we hosted a visit from the #BoughtonMonchelsea group of the Trefoil Guild - a branch of Girlguiding UK comprising 20,000+ members belonging to over 1,000 guilds across the nation 🫱🏾🫲🏻 🔎 Read about their behind-the-scenes tour of Kent Archives: www.facebook.com/KentArchives...
Sevenoaks Branch Talk 11 July: Peter Daniel on the History of Crayford’s famous textile printers (at Swaisland & David Evans) who were at the forefront of the Chartist Campaign to win the vote for the working man #NWKFHS #Kent #Genealogy
Ever wondered what you can find out at Kent Archives? Listen to the Zoom Talk by Archives Officer Alice Imperatori about Family History research at Kent Archives 9 July at 7.30pm Kent Archives holds the largest collection of historic records relating to Kent. #NWKFHS nwkfhs.org.uk/events/overv...
North West Kent Family History Society
Specialising in North West Kent and South East London plus advice on other areas to help with the study of your family history.
nwkfhs.org.uk
8 July 7.30pm Zoom Welsh Interest Group with David Cufley nwkfhs.org.uk/events/overv... #NWKFHS #Kent #Genealogy
8 July 10.30am Library DNA & General Family History Discussion Group with Pam Goddard nwkfhs.org.uk/events/overv... #NWKFHS #Kent #Genealogy
4 July AGM and Family History Day Venue Dartford Science and Technology College Heath Lane Dartford Kent DA1 2LY .https://nwkfhs.org.uk/events/overview/all-upcoming-meetings/family-history-day-agm/annual-general-meeting-2 Guest Speakers Kathy Chater and David Annal #NWKFHS #Kent #Genealogy
I'm busy updating my talk on Death Duty records in preparation for my trip to Dartford tomorrow afternoon where I'll be presenting it at the AGM of the North West Kent FHS @nwkfhs.bsky.social I'm on stage at 2.30 pm. Let me know if you're coming...
From Medway Archives: our next Saturday drop-in Date: 4th July 2026 Location: Medway Archives Centre (MAC), 32 Bryant Road Strood ME2 3EP Time: 4 July 202610:00am - midday Cost: Free www.medway.gov.uk/events/event... #NWKFHS #Kent #Genealogy
Saturday drop-in: Strood town centre | Medway Council
Call in to discover more about Strood town centre and the development of the area.
medway.gov.uk
4 July AGM and Family History Day Venue Dartford Science and Technology College Heath Lane Dartford Kent DA1 2LY .https://nwkfhs.org.uk/events/overview/all-upcoming-meetings/family-history-day-agm/annual-general-meeting-2 Guest Speakers Kathy Chater and David Annal #NWKFHS #Kent #Genealogy
1 July10.30am Zoom Discussion Group with Ann Clarke: How did our ancestors' childhood compare with childhood now? nwkfhs.org.uk/events/overv... #NWKFHS #Kent #Genealogy
Zoom Discussion Group with Ann Clarke: How did our ancestors' childhoods compare with childhood now?
How did our ancestors' childhoods compare with childhood now? Log in from 10.15am and enjoy chat with the other participants before the discussion starts. Please ensure you use your real name when...
nwkfhs.org.uk
Here's a good one. A date of birth recorded for a child in the 1861 census - a child who shouldn't have been included! Infant born today April 8 The 1861 census was supposed to record everyone living in England or Wales at midnight on Sunday 7 April. This child was evidently born on the Monday...
You know the feeling when you’ve been researching all those great-grandparents… but you’ve not really looked into the generations that are closer at hand, because you ‘already know them’. This is the spot that Family Tree Talk podcast co-host Nathan found himself in this week...
Join us for the July Family Tree Brickwalls Club webinar, 2 July, at which AI genealogist Carole McCulloch will be speaking about choosing the right AI tool for the right job https://f.mtr.cool/prgxqnwcsi
How are you getting on with this month’s social media/blogging prompt #OnePlaceCarers? It occurred to me while researching deaths in my #Sudbourne #OnePlaceStudy that the informants on the death certificates may well have been carers #OnePlaceWednesday
Thinking of recording some oral history in your #OnePlaceStudy but not sure how to start? Look no further! #OnePlaceWednesday www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/approachin...
Approaching an Oral History Project
A two-hour online session for individuals, community groups, and organisations interested in recording oral histories.
eventbrite.co.uk
Last Saturday, Dr Mark Bateson of Kent Archives attended the opening of #Wye Heritage Centre. Trustee Michael Payne led a tour of the archive room and exhibition space, the latter showcasing artefacts from Wye College and the parish. 🔎 Plan your visit: www.wyeheritage.org.uk
Next lunchtime talk: Monday 13th July, 1-2pm ''I looked at the grey of it then, I lived in the grey of it now': The rural fiction of S. C. Nethersole' presented by Dr Michelle Crowther Reserve your free seat: 📧 archives@kent.gov.uk ☎️ 03000 420 673 @literacytrust.org.uk #NationalYearOfReading2026
![Shown here is a tinted postcard depicting a view of the Parish Hall at Barham. Published by J. G. Charlton, Photographer, Canterbury. Postmark dated 1909 [ref. KHLC-IMG/PO/1/BAM/UNCAT/1]
About the talk:
Susie Colyer Nethersole (1869-1956) was the author of eight novels set in East Kent and was one of the first authors signed by Mills and Boon in 1908. This talk will explore her works and consider the ways in which she wrote about the Kentish landscape. Although born into a farming family, Nethersole admitted that she had 'never actually gone out with the hoe herself’; however, her attention to detail is finely observed, with the colours of the fields, the flowers, the seasons and the weather creating a rich tableau which her characters inhabit. As one reviewer wrote: ‘here are people who are, bone and flesh, farming folk, in a countryside that is as freshly English as they are’.
Nevertheless, her stories are not chocolate-boxy, but grittily realistic. Rural life is tough, and characters struggle as well as thrive, as modernity threatens their traditions. For Nethersole this was her world, albeit often as an observer, but that world could also be grey and monotonous, and it is her 'warts and all' portrayal of Kent's rural past that marks her out as more than just a writer of romance fiction.
Dr Michelle Crowther is an Academic Librarian at Canterbury Christ Church University and a co-lead of the Kent Maps Online project. Her doctoral thesis explores the works of the Persistent Scribblers Society, a Canterbury-based manuscript magazine society from the 1870s. Her research interests include Victorian and Edwardian literature, manuscript magazines, biography, rural writers, and nineteenth century Canterbury.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:o3vof7rjobhzoxvub42zxtot/bafkreifvfhijosz65vjdmwusfkkbqcpqyfk55gcsjmn7a3fqdrswurafim)
Free online lunchtime talk this Thursday 25th June 12pm Getting the Most from FamilySearch and Text Based Searching with FamilySearch UK Ambassador Lucy Reynoldson. www.ihgs.ac.uk/tutorial-get...
Tutorial - Getting the Most from FamilySearch and Text Based Searching with Lucy Reynoldson 25th June 12pm
This free talk will be available to purchase as an Anytime talk, after the live tutorial has taken place, for those who can't attend the live session.
ihgs.ac.uk
UK historians! Please could you help with this survey about AI use? Open to all doing history professionally (independent, uni-based, etc); it's the work of a lovely friend (& brilliant former colleague at @uophistory.bsky.social), @alexandraortolja.bsky.social: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Survey on AI use by historians
You are invited to participate in a research survey exploring how historians in the UK use artificial intelligence (AI) in their work. This study is being conducted by researchers at the University…
docs.google.com
24 June 7.30pm Zoom Talk with Michele Jeannotte 'They Sailed the Seas' Tracing your Merchant Marine ancestors and looking at the types of records available www.nwkfhs.org.uk/events/overv... #NWKFH #Kent #Genealogy