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England Derby (city)

Guide to Derby (city) history, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.



HISTORY
The history of Derby is somewhat obscured by the lack of written records, many of which have been destroyed. However, it started most probably as the Roman camp of 'Derventio' that was probably at Little Chester/Chester Green, the site of the old Roman fort. Later the town was one of the 'Five Boroughs' (fortified towns) of the Danelaw, until it was captured by Lady Aethelflaed of Mercia in July 917, subsequent to which the town was annexed into the Kingdom of Mercia.

The name was probably of Anglo-Saxon origin, Djúra-bý, recorded in Anglo-Saxon as Deoraby "Village of the Deer". This popular belief is asserted by historian Tim Lambert who states, "The name Derby is derived from the Danish words deor by meaning deer settlement."

Modern research into the history and archaeology of Derby suggests that the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons probably co-existed in this central part of England, occupying two areas of land surrounded by water.

IN the middle ages, Bonnie Prince Charlie of Scotland set up camp at Derby on 4 December 1745, whilst on his way south to seize the British crown. The prince called at The George Inn on Irongate, where the Duke of Devonshire had set up his headquarters, and demanded billets for his 9,000 troops. He abandoned his invasion at Swarkestone Bridge on the River Trent just a few miles south of Derby. As a testament to his belief in his cause, the prince – who on the march from Scotland had walked at the front of the column – made the return journey on horseback at the rear of the bedraggled and tired army.

While Lancashire and Yorkshire lay claim to the major efforts in spinning and weaving, Derby and Derbyshire were centers of Britain's Industrial Revolution. The first cotton spinning mill opened in Nottingham in 1770 and was driven by horses. In 1771 Richard Arkwright, Samuel Need and Jedediah Strutt built the world's first commercially successful water-powered cotton spinning mill at Cromford, Derbyshire, developing a form of power that was to be a catalyst for the Industrial Revolution.

The beginning of the next century saw Derby emerging as an engineering centre with manufacturers such as James Fox, who exported machine tools to Russia. In 1840, the North Midland Railway set up its works in Derby and, when it merged with the Midland Counties Railway and the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway, to form the Midland Railway, Derby became its headquarters.

Derby has remained a major center for both light and heavy engineering works in the UK until today.

LOCATION
Swansea is bounded by Swansea Bay and the Bristol Channel to the south. The picture shown is part of the Swansea bay, well known for its beaches and rolling hills. However the bay is also a natural harbor, and hs been so used for millennia.



Swansea can be roughly divided into four physical areas. To the north are the Lliw uplands which are mainly open moorland, reaching the foothills of the Black Mountain. To the west is the Gower Peninsula with its rural landscape dotted with small villages. To the east is the coastal strip around Swansea Bay. Cutting though the middle from the south-east to the north-west is the urban and suburban zone stretching from the Swansea city center to the towns of Gorseinon and Pontarddulais.

About three quarters of Swansea is bordered by the sea—the Loughor Estuary, Swansea Bay and the Bristol Channel. The two largest rivers in the region are the Tawe which passes the city center and the Loughor which flows on the northern border with Carmarthenshire.

The South Wales Coalfield reaches the coast in the Swansea area. This had a great bearing on the development of the city of Swansea and other nearby towns such as Morriston.

Much of the local authority's area is hilly with the main area of upland being located in the council ward of Mawr. Areas of high land up to 185 metres (607 ft) range across the central section and form the hills of Kilvey, Townhill and Llwynmawr, separating the center of Swansea from its northern suburbs.

RELIGION
Christianity is the largest religion in Wales. Until 1920 the established church was Anglican, although Wales has a strong tradition of nonconformism and Methodism.

St. Mary's Church in Swansea, founded in the 12th century is the largest church within the Swansea and Gower district, despite having a relatively impoverished income during its early history. Swansea's only other church at the time was the much smaller building of St. John's in High Street.

However, it has been noted that Swansea's direct contact with Bristol, a very influential center of early Nonconformity, also served to greatly influence the people of Swansea. The Dissenters, or Nonconformists, were those in England and Wales who worshiped outside the established Church of England. The main Nonconformists in England; the Baptists, Presbyterians and Independents, and the smaller Society of Friends or Quakers all contributed to the religious history of Swansea, although the principal ones were the Baptists and Independents.

In 2001, 158,457 people in the local authority area (71 per cent) stated their religion as Christian, 44,286 (20 per cent) no religion, 16,800 (7.5 per cent) did not state a religion and 2,167 were Muslim.

INDUSTRY
Swansea originally developed as center for metals and mining, especially the copper industry, from the beginning of the 18th century. However, by the end of the Second World War these heavy industries were in decline, and over the post-war decades Swansea shared in the general trend towards a post-industrial, service sector economy.

Today, of the 105,900 people estimated to work within the City and County of Swansea, over 90% are employed in the service sectors, with relatively high shares (compared to the Welsh and UK averages) in public administration, education &amp; health and banking, finance &amp; insurance.

Swansea is home to the DVLA headquarters based in Morriston which employs around 6,000 people in the city. Other major employers in the city are Admiral Group, HSBC, Virgin Media, Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board, BT and Amazon.co.uk. Virgin Atlantic also maintains its largest worldwide contact center in Swansea; including reservations, sales, baggage claims, and customer relations.

CIVIL REGISTRATION
Birth, marriages and deaths records have been kept by government since July 1837 to the present day. Prior to that, local parishes of the Church of England, and local branches of other faiths were the only repositories of this information. There are several locations for BMD records for Swansea. These follow:


 * Forebears Swansea


 * Swansea gov


 * wales BMD


 * UKBMD, Glamorganshire

CENSUS RECORDS
Census records for Nottingham can be found using the following links:


 * Swansea


 * Wales census records


 * Ancestry.com UK census

PROBATE RECORDS
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by several locations for Swansea. Please follow the links below:


 * Probate records


 * UK Probate records


 * National Probate Records

CEMETERIES AND GRAVES
The links to information on cemeteries for Swansea follow:


 * Morriston cemetery


 * Covers 7 Swansea cemeteries


 * Cwmgelli cemetery


 * wales cemeteries

GENEALOGY SOCIETIES AND GENEALOGY

 * Archives.com


 * Glamorgan family history society


 * Genuki Glamorgan


 * Familysearch, Glamorgan