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Legacy of War
Watching the heart-breaking images of women and children fleeing the war in Ukraine over these past few days, having to leave their men...
Wendy Percival
Mar 4, 20224 min read
Mysterious Uncle Theo
Often when compiling a blog post, I end up going down a rabbit hole. Which is exactly what happened while writing this one about my...
Wendy Percival
Feb 12, 20224 min read
The DeLacy-Staunton Mystery unravels!
I left you hanging last time, about a development in this mystery concerning revelations from Devon Archives. If you read my blog post...
Wendy Percival
Dec 3, 20212 min read
A special centenary!
Today is the hundred-year anniversary of my grandparents' wedding! When they got married in 1921 they were living in the same road –...
Wendy Percival
Jun 4, 20213 min read
Looking back, looking forward
Well, it’s certainly been a weird year! But some things don’t change – it’s about now we look back at what we’ve done and think about...
Wendy Percival
Dec 18, 20202 min read
A shared history - #WWI and beyond
Alfred Joseph Saunders, my husband’s grandfather – pictured here with his wife Caroline and daughter Eunice Irene – joined the Royal...
Wendy Percival
Nov 13, 20203 min read
Remembrance roll call - #WWI
Like most people, I'm sure, my family history's wartime and military research has had mixed fortunes - some successes, occasional...
Wendy Percival
Nov 6, 20202 min read
The power of an image
I’m excited to be able to share with you a wonderful photograph of The Booth family – the family into which my gran’s cousin, “Nellie”...
Wendy Percival
Oct 30, 20202 min read
Unravelling the Booth Brothers mystery
I'd imagined that this week I would follow on neatly from last week’s post about Charles Booth (see: Mystery and Death), who sadly died...
Wendy Percival
Oct 23, 20202 min read
Mystery and death
Sometimes during family history research you make assumptions – not unreasonable assumptions – but, as we all know, what we discover...
Wendy Percival
Oct 16, 20203 min read
From one mystery to more
Sometimes in family history a simple trail can explode in all directions, creating a myriad of new lines of enquiry. Which is what...
Wendy Percival
Oct 9, 20202 min read
My mystery photo pouch
Every now and again, I take out one of my favourite mystery packages, a small leatherette pouch full of (mostly) unnamed photographs, and...
Wendy Percival
Sep 25, 20202 min read
Politics on a postcard
Sorting through my gran’s postcard collection at the weekend, I came across this one, dated 27th September 1918. Although it shows an...
Wendy Percival
Jul 17, 20202 min read
The sanctuary of gardens
During this lock-down period, those of us lucky enough to have a garden are extremely fortunate. Perhaps some have realised the value of...
Wendy Percival
Apr 10, 20202 min read
Loss of a loving father
The Prime Minister spoke this week about the current Coronavirus situation being the biggest crisis in a generation which made me think...
Wendy Percival
Mar 20, 20202 min read
#WWI Christmas
I'm lucky to have amongst my family treasures four beautiful embroidered postcards, known as "WWI silks" sent from the front during the...
Wendy Percival
Dec 20, 20192 min read
An exciting find!
I signed off last week's blog post (Mystery of George's WWI wound) lamenting the fact that I had no photograph of my great uncle, George...
Wendy Percival
Nov 15, 20191 min read
Mystery of George's #WW1 wound
A photograph of my great-uncle Tom Diggory, my gran's older brother, always stood proudly on my gran's mantelpiece. Tom had been wounded...
Wendy Percival
Nov 8, 20192 min read
Forgotten #WWI heroes
Last week we went to see the stage production of Michael Morpurgo's War Horse at The New Theatre, Oxford. The story of War Horse tells of...
Wendy Percival
Sep 13, 20192 min read