| All of these links open in a new tab or browser window. Moreover, all of them are FREE! updated: Dec 2023 Here at the Museum, we have always advised to gain as much information as possible for free, on the web, in local archives, libraries, before thinking about paying for subscription sites. A good deal can be found out literally for nothing. And we help where we can. Call and see us. |
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HULL HISTORY CENTRE Hull's foremost history research facility, with free access to the internet, and huge amounts of expert help. Sutton has been part of the city since 1927, and the village's most recent records are held there. THE TREASURE HOUSE, BEVERLEY The county equivalent to the Hull History Centre ... all things history in East Yorkshire can be found at the County Record Office in the East Riding Archives. Sutton & Wawne Museum has a 'foot in both camps' in that, whilst Sutton today has been within the city since 1927, Wawne is still firmly within the county and all of Wawne's historical archives, parish registers, etc, are held there. Sutton's historical records prior to 1927 are held at The Treasure House, and some are at the Hull History Centre. HISTORY OF HULL is provided by HULLWEBS, who also host "HEROES of HULL", a terrific site charting the history of Hull through the centuries, from ancient times to modern. KINGSTON UPON HULL WAR MEMORIAL 1914 - 1918 A brilliantly executed website, both a memorial and research site, dedicated to the 7,500 or so men from Hull who lost their lives in WW1. HULL PEOPLE'S MEMORIAL Another remarkable site, linked strongly to HEROES of HULL above, raising funds for a city centre memorial to Hull's 1,200 civilian war dead. THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES now at Kew. The place to access for wider family history resources, Medal Cards, First War Service Records and a great deal of other information too. HULL & EAST RIDING AT WAR A local site run by a team of enthusiasts keen to see the part Hull and the East Riding played in both world wars more widely told. FreeBMD Free Births, Marriages & Deaths - a free site maintained by volunteers, which essentially will have all registrations from 1837 onwards when it is complete. First port of call when looking for BMD information on starting out on Family History Research. Be patient ... their archive is still being steadily compiled by dedicated family history society researchers. YorkshireBMD Maintained and part of the FreeBMD site above, but records specifically to Yorkshire, again with indexes from 1837. Again, incomplete as yet, but very well worth a try. TINSTAAFL an enigmatic name, true, based on an old saying about free dinners. Old folks will know. But here within this fantastic link is an index compiled through sheer hard work, a tremendous marriage index from 1757 to 1837 for St James' Church. In the whole index, covering most counties in England & Wales, there are just under 2 million records, that these people have researched and digitised their findings for family historians just like us. All Free! Seriously. You get it now ... ? Quite something to come across unexpectedly. Both links load in a new window. THE IGI
The Mormon International Genealogical Database, run and maintained by the Mormon Church in Utah, USA. A vast archive of millions of English church records, many pre-dating legal registration in 1837. The origins of their records go back to many years ago when Mormon evangelists visited the UK, long before the internet, when access to family history records was via the local Mormon church and using a transparency film archive using special readers. Now available for free to everyone, this link takes you straight past their Home Pages to the pages to start looking at records for England and Wales straightaway. The place to start for free if looking back further than 1837 just for Parish Records. BATCH NUMBERS ~ Hugh Wallis Allied to the IGI above. By definition, such a vast archive, compiled by non-English folk, contained many transrciption errors and anomolies often caused by ancient or unclear handwriting, or misunderstandings of how we spell placenames, etc. Experts say use the site with caution, check other sources. Hugh Wallis published a web site that checks the validity of the Batch Numbers on individual records, as many erroneous records were entered later via the internet from family members who had basically got the wrong information and crossed-facts. Get your info from the site above, then check the Batch Numbers here for validity. If they don't match, then the info you have is dubious at best, and likely to be totally false at worst. We didn't say tracing Family History would be easy, not if you want it to be accurate. FreeCENSUS The place to access Census Records for Free! Simple as that, a site to use if the pay-for-view or subscription sites are not available to you. Like FreeBMD above, not yet complete, but getting there. Always worth a look. FreeREG Similar to above, but for BMD details. An alternative if you draw a blank with FreeBMD. One advantage here is that their marriage records can contain more than those at FreeBMD, often containing father's occupation, names of witnesses, etc. COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION CWGC ... for all records to do with British war dead. Includes all services, including Merchant Service (Red Duster) and Civilian War Dead Indexes. THE CIVILIAN WAR DEAD INDEX of Yorkshire, Northumberland & Durham .. .. is an incredible list of all the civilian war dead of those three counties. As you look down it, you'll see an amazing number of Hull names and families who lost their lives in the various air raid attacks on Hull during the blitz. For people NOT from Hull, who ever doubted how bad Hull was hit during WW II, then take a look at this. The entries that read .. Hull, ERY .. seem endless. NORTH EAST COAST DIARY by the same people that compiled the diary of events above. Incredible amount of WWII information here, a compilation of thousands of daily reports of enemy action and incidents, from bombing raids to ships torpedoed off the North East coast and much more besides. RobHaywoodsHULLBLITZMAPS The old Hull Blitz Map that linked here has sadly ceased; it was run by the now closed People's Memorial Shop in Whitefriargate. We can only recommend now that you access Rob Haywood's original scans of the old Bomb Map that appeared for years in the Age Concern building in Hull. OLD MAPS ... at the National Library of Scotland. When you have found a relative in an obscure part of a town you never suspected, you may want a map of that area, how it used to be. Maps based on the O/S from 1855 onwards, generally to 1:10,500 scale, which are not bad, but some are 1:1,250 scale, which are superb. In cities, they show tramlines, property boundaries, even individual street trees. For Hull, 1893, 1910 and 1928 are good examples. Takes some learning to use it, but very well worth it. GOAD MAPS Similar web address to OLD MAPS above, but even more to choose from. Particularly GOAD MAPS, the Goad 1893 series of fire insurance maps of Hull that were originally produced to aid insurance companies in assessing fire risks. Available for many British city centre areas, and a host of other map choices too, eg, OS of England for 1935, the dawn of motoring, or a 1933 transport map of London. BING MAPS for the UK; modern road maps, but also leading to Ordnance Survey maps in good detail. Ideal for planning your journey around your town and county roots, locating obscure villages, etc. The O/S are still the best and most detailed maps for most purposes. Then you can look at GOOGLE MAPS to see how that street or area looks more recently. GenUKI Genealogy, UK & Ireland ... an overall site for all genealogists, especially if you are searching info in unfamiliar parts of the country. Choose your country, click the map for a county. Or go straight to Yorkshire in much more detail. Information on every parish in the land. EYFHS : EAST YORKSHIRE FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY Your local family history society has an extensive archive of Census data, Monumental Inscriptions, and a full programme of events, displays, talks, etc, for the year. Their magazine is "The Banyan Tree", and they have a well-stocked shop of books, lists and maps that can be ordered online. They meet once a month and have 4 meeting venues around the county, in Beverley, Bridlington, Hull and Scarborough, all with full details and map directions on their website. A thriving society that can give you lots of assistance, also with email Help Desks; you're guaranteed to make many new friends too. EYLHS : EAST YORKSHIRE LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY Focusses on local history in a more general sense, EYLHS are a long established society with as wide a range of history interest as could be wished for. If it's in East Yorkshire and in the past, they're onto it. They have a wide range of publications, both their own publications and others, as well as many site visits a year. Their photo gallery is well worth a browse for a variety of views from all over the county. MARITIME HULL All you could ever wish to know; at last a fine and worthy website to Hull's lost trawler industry. There have been others in the past, but sadly were not able to keep going. We wish this one the very best of luck and hope this site address is here for good. QUAYSIDES a photo gallery of a lot more ships, most with local Humber connections or interest. Links to ABP, daily sailings and sighting reports of vessels seen on the Humber, etc. Interestingly includes links and photos to Hull's adopted warships, GALATEA and IRON DUKE. Also links to the World Ship Society. FiNALLY . . . . PARLOC ... a UK PARISH LOCATOR ... this truly is a stunning little UK-wide programme. Get the programme here at the Museum on Fridays, bring a stick and we will copy it for you. It's especially useful for finding parishes, and their proximity to each other, in counties other than your own. We mostly know our own counties well, and Hull and ER folk wouldn't need a locator to find even lesser known parishes around our own. But what happens when you find relatives in Cornwall, Herefordshire or Durham. Unless you happen to know those well too, you'll spend hours seeing unfamiliar parish names in lists before some of them will start to make sense. This programme, (it is Freeware, no subs req.) is superb, gives a list of parishes within a set distance of the one you've found, calculates distances, tells you which compass direction, plus a map reference that can load a Streetmap showing where it is. Very useful for anyone abroad with UK links but haven't the faintest idea of where's where without actually coming here. And a must if you are actually planning to visit a lot of parishes. A brilliant time-saver for visitors. Enjoy. MILITARY LINKSJust a suggestion for Young Persons, before you start - if you are thinking of asking your grandparents about their military service, it may be helpful to have a look at this list of "QUESTIONS FOR OLD SOLDIERS". Download it from our website, this Help Sheet specifically provides research ideas for young people. It opens in a separate window, and you can print the questions leaving space for the answers you may get. If you can get answers to most of these, you'll be off to a magnificent start, as well as knowing your grandparent like never before. When you have your answers, many of the links below may make a lot more sense be even more helpful than ever. WESTERN FRONT ASSOCIATION Formed with the aim of furthering interest in the period 1914-1918, to perpetuate the memory, courage and comradeship of all those who served their countries in France and Flanders and their own countries during The Great War. It does not seek to justify or glorify war. It is not a re-enactment society, nor is it commercially motivated. It is entirely non-political. The object of The Association is to educate the public in the history of The Great War with particular reference to the Western Front. Applications for membership are welcomed from anyone with a like mind. WORLD WAR I - TRENCHES ON THE WEB a complete directory of maps of the main areas of operation in Europe, 1914-1918. AN OUTLINE TO THE CAUSES OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR AND HOW WE CAME TO HAVE A SECOND. An amazingly prophetic article written in November 1938 by a naval officer, explaining how Britain became embroiled in the Great War in the first place, and why by 1938, a second war was just about unavoidable. WORLD WAR II - Maps on the Web More detailed maps, of World War II, many theatres of war, Europe, Far East, etc - eg. Places in Britain within range of German fighters. ARMY ROLL OF HONOUR at The National Archives an be used to find a war grave or burial site. Use in conjunction with the Commonwealth War Graves site below. COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION the first place to look if you have name, service, which war, and knowing a rank will help enormously with the most common names. Includes the Merchant Navy. THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION the quintessential ex-serviceman's organisation, famous for organising the annual Festival of Remembrance in the Royal Albert Hall, as well as the annual Poppy Day collections nationwide. MOD RECORDS AND CONTACTS for all service records, an overall site linking to records offices for all three armed services, and also information on how to apply for copies of medals and decorations awarded, etc. WORLD WAR 1 MEDAL ROLLS Over half of the army's records for men who served in WW1 were destroyed by enemy action when bombs fell on Whitehall in WW2. Years later, someone cleverly realised that if a man or woman served abroad in the First War, then they were almost certainly awarded a campaign medal. And those records survived the bombing. This is a database of those Medal Rolls, all 5.5 million men and women, including those who died, all on one site. It came on line in Jan 04, and is now be complete. To send for an image of one particular record, the cost is GBP3.50, payable by credit card online. A wonderful resource, found at the National Archives, ie, Kew Records Centre in London. THE LONG, LONG TRAIL a massive site giving many Regimental, Corps and Battalion locations, specifically for the 1914-1918 War. Invaluable if you know the unit your forefather was in, but don't know where he went. Gives some very useful starting clues. For instance, if you know your man was in the East Yorkshires, and there was family talk of Salonika and fighting the Turks, then you have a lead on his being in either the 2nd or 6th Battalions - both of which served in the disastrous Dardanelles campaign. THE VETERANS' AGENCY an MOD site with lots more links and information. Where to write when you want to send for unclaimed or replacement medals. THE NATIONAL ARMY MUSEUM in Royal Hospital Road, London. RAF MUSEUM, HENDON for more links to archives and RAF history. RAF Records Office for links for addresses for service records of all personnel. WAAFS to the Women's Auxiliary Air Force Association, the women's section of the Royal Air Force. WRACS the Women's Royal Army Corps Association, includes and incorporates the ATS, or Auxiliary Transport Services, who were the women pilots that delivered warplanes direct from the factories to the squadrons. AIRCREW REMEMBRANCE SOCIETY speaks for itself, a very worthy site to be added here. It runs on donations from members of the public and indeed is reliant upon the public for increasing their total library of information. It's a non-political site dedicated to perpetuating the memory of aircrew lost mainly during the Second World War. THE NOT FORGOTTEN ASSOCIATION a Tri-Service Charity, "which provides entertainment, leisure and recreation for the serving wounded, injured or sick and for ex-service men and women with disabilities," to quote directly from their website. Incredibly, they were founded around the same time as the Royal British Legion, being founded in 1922. Today's patron, since 2000, is HRH The Princess Royal, and the charity is also supported by 'Help for Heroes.' They help around 12,000 people a year. Naturally, their emblem is an elephant. Elephants never forget, do they. A good choice. AUXILLIARY TERRITORIAL SERVICE a different ATS , those thousands of unsung women of all ages who did their bit towards the ultimate victory by doing what had previously been men's jobs in the forces, jobs that relieved more men of the armed forces to take the war to the enemy. Women that were drivers, clerks, cooks and orderlies, gunners and armourers, searchlight operators, wireless operators and telephonists, and not forgetting that legion of storewomen feared by rookie soldiers everywhere. We couldn't have won it without them. This is a tremendous site, and again comes recommended by your Webmaster. LAND ARMY & TIMBER CORPS another massive group of unsung women, even more thousands, that worked the land and set free farmers and farm labourers free to join the armed forces. Another major organisation of womenfolk that made such a huge contribution, we couldn't have won it without them either. Between the ATS and the Land Army, this nation owes a huge debt of gratitude, and it's been far too long in the coming. Another recommended site for Grandmas everywhere. Grandkids should be saying, 'what did YOU do in the war, Grandma?". Some of their stories will astonish you. NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM in Greenwich holds records for casualty lists of merchant shipping losses, as well as a vast amount of other information. WRNS the Women's Royal Naval Service Benevolent Trust - the women's section of the Royal Navy. Now disbanded as a separate service, as with the WRACS and WAAFS above, the WRNS likewise performed sterling service supporting the administrative side of the navy, in bases all over the world. As well as basic office duties, they were also invaluable in manning war rooms, signals and transport sections, supporting the work of fighting ships in every imaginable way. NAVAL HISTORY NET a truly incredible and valuable resource, and growing. Devised and provided by Gordon Smith as a tribute to his father, killed at sea in WW2, and also his grandfather, who served in both world wars. It lists EVERY naval casualty of the RN and Dominion Navies - including Royal Marines - who were killed or died, by enemy action or by accident, whilst in service at sea, or on a shore station, including between the wars. For instance, it is incredible how many men, and women, we lost just to road accidents in foreign ports. Also lists all our warships, where they served, what happened to them, in fact, just about all you want to know about our Royal Navy history. It's sobering to see lists of dead, day by day as we go through the months of war, and see listed the whole ship's company of sometimes hundreds of men, often designated as MPK - missing presumed killed - but the exact fate of that ship is still unknown, just that she was sunk or bombed and was lost without trace with all hands - very, very moving. CONVOY WEB the link to Naval History above does also link to this, but this link takes you directly to this superb site. WW2 naval historians will be beside themselves with joy here. Every convoy of WW2, all their code letters, dates and ports of departure and arrival, names of ships within the convoys, sometimes numbers of troops aboard troopships. If you have been researching anyone who served in the Royal or Merchant Navy and trying to trace ships, convoys, movements around the globe in those vital years 1939-1945, then this site is a real find. And free. A good example is when looking for a DEMS gunner detailed above. If you know the name of the ship, or when your relative sailed or arrived, or ports he mentioned, you have a good chance of finding out even more. Even if you have no ship, but have dates or port of departure, you still have a chance. In many cases, it's more a question of a process of elimination. When researching, the site makes one good point to remember, will save a lot of time later to emphasise it here; troops were frequently embarked aboard their troopships some days before the actual date of sailing shown in the archives , typically three or four days. Similarly, on arrival, troops may be another day or so before actual disembarkation. Generally, a Magnificent Site, and should be far better known. ROYAL NAVAL MUSEUM at HM Naval Base, Portsmouth. Lots of info on HMS Victory, HMS M.33, HMS Warrior, plus a features on the Dardanelles Campaign of 1915 marking the centenary, plus much more. Includes links to history and records for Royal Marines. Also see next entry below. ROYAL MARINES MUSEUM at Eastney Barracks, Southsea. Includes links to RM Commandos, and how to train to be a Royal Marine Commando. One of Britain's oldest regiments, though technically have long been a Corps, it was known as the Admiral's Regiment, and first formed in 1664. The nation's 'Sea Soldiers', with detachments on most large warships as well as the commando HQs ashore, Royal Marines have long been regarded as Britain's sheet anchor. They undertake everything from small landing and boarding parties to full-scale invasions, a Commando unit being roughly the equivalent of an army battalion, around 800 men. "By Sea, By Land" is their motto, amphibious warfare is their speciality. They proudly marked their 350th anniversary in 2014 with som style, and has a world-famous band service renowned for it's display of the historic naval ceremonies of 'Beating Retreat' and 'Sunset.' ROYAL NAVAL PATROL SERVICE ASSOCIATION So many men from Hull and the Humber ports volunteered, often as whole crews together in much the same fashion as the Pals Battalions in the army of the Great War, that I thought it proper to have a direct link. There's a picture of the RNPS Memorial at Lowestoft, as well as their museum and HQ in what was HMS Europa in Sparrow's Nest Gardens in Lowestoft. The memorial overlooks both the gardens and the sea. This is for all those who served in "Harry Tate's Navy" - brave men, and hitherto their contribution, no less vital than say the pilots of the Battle of Britain, has so often been unrecognised. Minesweeping, anti-submarine patrols, air-sea rescue, and a lot of 'dangerous and dirty' jobs no one else would willingly undertake, all fell to the men of this unique if unglamorous outfit. Taking on a submarine in only a fishing trawler armed with a 12-pdr gun, doing both Atlantic and Arctic Convoy escort duty, landing Special Forces and reconnaissance units on enemy shores, were all no mean feats. Their casualty rate was horrendous, on a par to the Merchant Navy and Bomber Command. And for those that survived, when the war was over, it was simply back to the fishing and earning a living in one of the most dangerous occupations on this earth - or sea. We're proud to honour them here. DEMS Gunners this link is the best first step to find information on these often overlooked men, by searching on Wikipedia. DEMS stood for 'Defensively Armed Merchant Ships', and any relatives that have come across references to a man being part of the ship's company of a vessel called HMS PRESIDENT will want to know about this. For PRESIDENT was simply an old steam ship moored in the Thames, and she's still there with her yellow funnel and can now be hired for functions and parties. But in WW2, PRESIDENT was the pay HQ of all naval ratings assigned to merchant ships for gunnery protection against German subs and aircraft. More than a few of these men lost their lives on some unheard of merchant ship or tramp steamer, and the only record left is of their name inscribed on the RN memorial and as having supposedly served on HMS PRESIDENT. In the vast majority of cases, they never set foot aboard her. There was a lot more to their stories than that, very complicated and all wrapped up in the British government's desire to be seen to be observing the rule of war whilst still giving our merchant seamen some protection. The Americans were far less squeamish, and called their USN gunnery ratings 'Armed Guards'. Often, they served together on the same ships with Royal Navy personnel, as we 'loaned' the Americans some of our DEMS gunners. So it's worth seeking out Armed Guard websites too. If you have a relative that was killed at sea, apparently on an American merchant ship, the chances are he was really a Royal Naval rating trained as a DEMS gunner on smaller calibre guns, like 3" or the famous anti-aircraft Oerlikon, or even mounted Lewis guns of WW1 vintage. They really were fighting against all the odds and were very brave men indeed. Many would go on to find themselves taking on a squadron of Luftwaffe Stukas armed with nothing more than an ageing WW1 machine gun, and many lost that unequal battle doing it. Others simply died in their sleep when torpedoed, or drowned in abandoning ship. For those who have never even heard of DEMS gunners, just knowing what they were will help. FLEET AIR ARM MUSEUM at RNAS Yeovilton, Somerset, will change your perception of aircraft Museums. The Museum has the largest collection of Naval aircraft anywhere in Europe, together with the first British built Concorde which you can go aboard and visit the cockpit. Find out more by exploring this Web Site and then see it for yourself. HULL & EAST RIDING AT WAR A local site run by a team of enthusiasts keen to see the part Hull and the East Riding played in both world wars more widely told. Whether the role of the Hull Pals battalions in the Great War, or Hull's untold suffering in the blitz in the second, this is a remarkable site, with a great wealth of interest to this area. It's particularly strong on other bodies and authorities as well as the regular military, so police and fire brigades, civil defence and Home Guard, and many other auxilliary units all have a place here. There's an extra-special focus on individual stories, as well as pages on each of the RAF stations across East Yorkshire. It will grow and grow, and well worth a visit. KINGSTON UPON HULL WAR MEMORIAL 1914 - 1918 A more complete story of Hull in World War One . . . a totally marvellous and phenomenal website dedicated to honouring every single one of all the men of Hull who lost their lives in the First World War. It really is an amazing resource, with losses even listed by street name as well as by service, regiment or ship. An incredible amount of information here, all researched and put together by Hull WW1 historian Paul Bishop. It will certainly be well used by folks here at the Sutton & Wawne Museum, and we wholeheartedly recommend it as a new resource to use alongside the existing ones, such as Hull & East Riding at War listed above.. THE PRINCE OF WALES'S OWN REGIMENT OF YORKSHIRE the successor to both the East and West Yorkshires, the Green Howards, and the Duke of Wellington's Regiment. Their website takes you to their regimental museum pages, with a comprehensive regimental history of not just both world wars, but many other conflicts too. There are a surprising number of records you can access online, though some WW2 records pertaining to men enlisted and discharged are not yet available online. Most WW1 records are. THE SECRET LISTENERS a website dedicated to the army of WW2 'secret radio listeners' who used their own amateur radio sets to firstly listen out for German spies here in Britain from 1940 onwards, but more importantly who later discovered the wealth of secret German High Command radio traffic in their 'uncrackable' five-letter codes. A truly amazing story, one that will especially fascinate anyone with an interest in radio and its early history. EDEN CAMP If you didn't live through these wars, but want to know much more about them, the privations and hardships your family had to bear on the 'Home Front', or experience a little of the atmosphere of the times, then you should visit this excellent museum just outside Malton. I use the word "experience" advisedly - you will not feel the real fear and cold and pain, but you may come to understand a little, just a little. You may have had older relatives no longer with us that told you something of those years, and perhaps were very descriptive. Perhaps you doubted them as a little exaggerated. Come to Eden Camp, and I think you'll find they didn't, or couldn't, tell you the half of it. It would be hard to exaggerate what our enemies did to us, and even more what they did in continental Europe to other nations, or in the Far East to Chinese, Malays, the Philipines or Burmese. In our home experience, just for a woman to have to contend with the rationing, the scarcity of new clothes and fashions, the worry of having your children sent away 'to safety', let alone whether your man, or dad, or brother, was ever coming home, is enough thought for us that came afterwards to realise that these wonderful displays in the old prisoner-of-war huts doesn't begin to help us fully understand what they went through. But it's a start. And then, atop of all that, there was the bombing to contend with. Remember this if you go - as you pay your money to go in, you know you will be coming out . Also, you have the benefit of 70 years of history that tells us that, not only did Britain and the free world win, but that we were right to do what we did. Your forebears neither knew for certain we were going to win, until roughly 1943-44, and for much of the war, most didn't really know what was going on elsewhere. To put it simply, folks in Coventry and London, suffering as they did, had no idea that Hull was having it just as bad - because no-one told them, except by heresay, and that was just rumour when all said and done. Men falling on the field of battle at El Alamein were not to know that this was to be a turning point, that history would deem their actions, even in death, helped to turn a perilous corner. Few held the full story. We know all this now. And when the full story came to be told, few realised how much of a close call we'd all had - we very nearly didn't win. As the victor of Waterloo famously said, "it was a damned close run thing." And that's an understatement. For those of you that did experience all this, and served, and though frightened to death, still went back off leave for another dose of what you knew was coming, still went out at night firewatching, still went to work daily not knowing if your work was still there, still ushered your family and children down the shelters almost nightly, I salute you - ! And so should everyone else. Most of us will never know, let alone repay, the debt that we owe you. PDSA - THE DICKEN MEDAL Finally, a link to a rare honour for animals. Many will have heard of the Dicken Medal, but I suspect many will have not. There are many unknown stories on here of animals that were honoured for their bravery and standing steadfast in the face of great danger. As their website says, the PDSA Dickin Medal is the highest award any animal can receive whilst serving in military conflict. There have been quite a few surprising recipients. TO SUM UP . . .. . . and a few more tips to searchingSimilarly, search for ships by name, especially the more famous ones - type "HMS HOOD" and use the inverted commas to force a search for the whole name. Many names are thoroughly ambiguous, such as the county class cruisers like the SUFFOLK and DORSETSHIRE - you need to box a bit clever with these, and add the name of the theatre of war, or action, or enemy ship they were engaged with. Type SUFFOLK BISMARCK and see what pops up. There are 57,000 references, the vast majority pointing to the ships themselves, though some will coincidentally be referring to the county of Suffolk and some gentry that was related to Count von Bismarck himself. Also with ships, after loading the links, another worthwhile search is for an IMAGE SEARCH. I did it and the first four pictures are of the Royal Navy cruiser SUFFOLK herself, and the fifth was pic of her Swordfish aircraft taken from the film, SINK THE BISMARCK, starring Kenneth More. The ways of searching are endless. It does happen that over a period of time, links do get 'broken', no longer work. Sometimes, that happens because a site ceases to exist, and all we can do is mourn their loss and hope we copied the information we wanted from it before its demise. But more often, it's because the site has changed it's address. A classic example is the Royal Maritime Museum at Greenwich, that once had its own address under its own initials. Now it falls under the remit of the 'Royal Museums Greenwich' with a completely new URL. A good way to still find the site you want is to click the link with the right button, and then ask for a Google Search, or simply copy and paste the name into the search bar, which should take you to their 'new' home page. From there, you can hopefully navigate to where you wanted the link to take you in the first place. |