News and Notices

October 16, 2024

I recently discovered that a page in the burial register of St Mary in Portsea never got scanned.  I suspect this was because it was a loose page and got missed when FindmyPast did the scanning of the registers for the Portsmouth History Centre. Mention was made in the Hampshire Chronicle of the death of […] – read more…

July 11, 2024

As we continue the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Hampshire Genealogical Society, we will be holding a series of on-line lectures for HGS members. Tuesday 30th July at 7:30pm BST Six Hats A technique to help you solve your family history problems Read a full description of this talk using this link: 2024-07-SixHats Sophie […] – read more…

June 13, 2024

The Hampshire Genealogical Society is in need of a new Treasurer to succeed Ann-Marie Shearer who has stepped down from the role. The duties are those which would be expected of such a position, • Maintain the Society’s accounting records • Prepare management accounts and reports for the bi-monthly Executive meetings • Prepare the year […] – read more…

March 1, 2024

HGS Online Events Team In recent weeks, a small team of Hampshire Genealogical Society volunteers have attended two online events, both were run as Zoom meetings with break out rooms allowing individual societies to have their own room and answer questions face to face. The first was the East Surrey Virtual Family History Fair on […] – read more…

February 11, 2024

On 1st February, Fiona Ranger, responsible for HGS Publicity & Outreach, was a guest on the Chris Pearce show where she discussed how to research your family history and the benefits of joining HGS. If you missed this live interview, you can now listen to the podcast on Express FM using this link: Fiona Ranger […] – read more…

February 5, 2024

You may be interested in this talk to be held at the Hampshire Record Office in Winchester. Genealogy TV and You: A look behind the velvet curtain at how Genealogy TV shows are made, with some tips on how to bring glamour to your own family history research, presented by Brad Argent from Ancestry. Places […] – read more…

January 28, 2024

Fiona Ranger, responsible for Publicity & Outreach, will be on Express FM on Thursday 1st February 2024 where she will be a guest on the Chris Pearce show between 7-9pm She will be in conversation with Chris discussing how to research your family history and the benefits of joining HGS. Fiona will also talk about […] – read more…

November 16, 2023

The HGS Help Desk in the search room at Hampshire Archives in Winchester will be open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays 10am – 4pm from Tuesday 21st November. Up until now we have only been open Tuesday and Thursday. Click to find out more about visiting the Centre. – read more…

September 22, 2023

New Safeguarding Policy Since our AGM on 17th June inst., HGS trustees have begun a programme to assess our Governance system. Part of this is to review and update our various policies or, in some cases, create new ones. The first to have been completed and approved is our Safeguarding Policy which you will find […] – read more…

September 12, 2023

Correction to opening times The September edition of the HGS quarterly magazine publicised the Andover Museum. Unfortunately the opening times quoted are now incorrect, as the winter opening times have just started this week. They are now 10am to 4pm Friday to Sunday (closed Monday to Thursday). Sorry for any confusion or inconvenience. – read more…

September 1, 2023

e-journal and archive now available to all members online The Hampshire Family Historian magazine, published quarterly, has been available to HGS members either as a printed copy or via this website as an e-journal. So if you were sent a printed copy, it was not possible to view the current issue online. Neither was it […] – read more…

May 2, 2023

Hampshire marriages and banns (1754-1921) now on Ancestry Following on from the Hampshire baptism records (1813-1921) recently made available on Ancestry, a new tranche of parish records – Marriages and Banns from 1754, when pre-printed volumes were introduced, to 1921 –  are now online and are searchable by name. Please note these records do not […] – read more…

May 1, 2023

Conference Day and AGM 2023 The Hampshire Genealogical Society is pleased to announce that their Conference Day and AGM 2023 will be held at The Millennium Memorial Hall, Littleton, Winchester, SO22 6QL on Saturday 17th June 2023. For further information of the event and how to apply for tickets on-line, please contact the Society on […] – read more…

April 24, 2023

Under a rather grey sky on a cool spring Saturday morning in April, six stalwart HGS Volunteers made their various ways to St George’s Church Hall in Poole for the Dorset Family History Society’s Family History Day. The HGS Exhibitor’s stall takes some putting together using two long tables on which we lay our various […] – read more…

April 20, 2023

Hampshire baptism records (1813-1921) now on Ancestry In December 2021, family history website Ancestry and Hampshire County Council announced a partnership in which the company would digitise the county’s historic records. A year later, the first tranche consisting of probate records was launched. Recently Ancestry has added a new collection of 1,583,654 Hampshire baptism records […] – read more…

March 23, 2023

On Saturday February 25th, the HGS Bookstall paraphernalia was dusted off, loaded into the car and taken to the Old Town Hall in Havant where The Spring Arts and Heritage Centre is situated. This was our first ‘live’ show this year and, in fact, our first ‘live’ show since September 2022. That February Saturday was […] – read more…

March 16, 2023

The Hampshire Genealogical Society is in need of a new Secretary to succeed Gwen Newland who has stepped down from the role. The duties are those which would be expected of such a position, mainly involving convening and attending meetings of the AGM and those of the Executive Committee; ensuring that minutes of meetings are […] – read more…

December 5, 2022

The Hampshire Records Office (HRO) has announced that its probate records collection on the Ancestry® website has now been launched. Probate records are official court documents concerning the settlement of a person’s estate after they die. The most important of these is usually a will, which lists the deceased’s property and outlines who it has […] – read more…

November 21, 2022

The Hampshire Genealogical Society requires your help. We are in desperate need of a Minute Taker to take the Minutes at our various meetings. As Minute Taker you will work with the Chairman to produce the agendas. The role will require you attend 6 Executive Committee meetings and currently 3 Development Forum meetings. A copy of […] – read more…

November 21, 2022

The Hampshire Genealogical Society requires your help. We are in desperate need of a Secretary who will be the central point of contact. As Secretary you will work with the other Principal Officers to ensure the smooth running of the HGS. The role will require you to liaise with the many other role holders and deal with […] – read more…

November 8, 2022

The Valerie Bacon Archive – ‘Living with War in Emsworth’ is now on display at the Portsmouth History Centre on the third floor of the Central Library. The exhibition is drawn from her collection of diaries written during the years of the Second World War. Her diary entries were never meant to record the war […] – read more…

September 29, 2022

Trial Saturday opening Hampshire Record Office are having a trial Saturday opening on SATURDAY 22nd October 2022.   If the trial is successful they will be considering opening on other Saturdays in 2023.  HGS may also be there on 22nd October if some HGS volunteers are able to attend, so if any HGS members are interested […] – read more…

September 27, 2022

Family History Show at Kempton Park Our new Bookstall Manager, Tony Sinclair, successfully led the team who attended the Family History Show at Kempton Park on 24th September 2022. It was great to meet up with all the other exhibitors from Family History Societies around the south of England and the Family History Federation. The venue […] – read more…

September 24, 2022

Gwen Newland has stepped down as HGS Secretary after carrying out this role for many years. She has suffered from ill-health for some time and feels she is now unable to carry out the role as she would wish to. I thank her for all the work she has done over these past years and […] – read more…

September 23, 2022

Heritage Open Day HGS had a very successful day at the Heritage Open Day at Hampshire Record Office on 17th September. There was a steady stream of visitors to the Record Office, from all over Hampshire and further afield, and our team of volunteers managed to speak to most of them. One gentleman from Derbyshire […] – read more…

September 5, 2022

Whilst looking up the events at Heritage Open Days 2022, I also stubbled across The Hampshire Histbites Podcast Channel, which was launched in the summer of 2020 and has more than 60 episodes. www.winchesterheritageopendays.org/introduction-histbites I found the Episode Archives Galore presented by Barry Sherlock particularly interesting as he reviews the wealth and variety of material […] – read more…

September 5, 2022

Heritage open days are happening all over Hampshire and the rest of the country. You can find an event near you by visiting www.heritageopendays.org.uk This year Hampshire Genealogical Society are joining with our partners at Hampshire Record Office in an event called Hampshire Archives – Bring History To Life which takes place at on Saturday […] – read more…

August 10, 2022

Due to a lack of volunteers to help run groups, unfortunately we have had to suspend the current programmes for both the Portsmouth and the New Milton & Christchurch groups. The Portsmouth group was the original HGS group formed 48 years ago, with the New Milton & Christchurch one a few years later. Should you […] – read more…

August 1, 2022

Rescanning of the original BDO index cards started in May of this year with the first phase of transcription starting later that month. This first phase, a verbatim transcription of the scanned card content on to XL spreadsheets, is progressing satisfactorily with approximately 4,500 cards transcribed by mid-July. The transcription team involved in this work […] – read more…

April 1, 2022

Read an article published in the Hampshire Chronicle on 3rd March 2022 about the HGS collaboration with HRO “Family History has never been so easy.” A walk-in enquiry and support service in Winchester and other important new developments offer family historians a first-class service, writes Barry Shurlock  Read the full page article as published HERE. – read more…