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Janet's Research

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Links to external web sites

Most recently added links are at the top of each section.

Brentford

• Edith's Streets: a blog about London (and Greater London) streets - what the buildings are, what the background is. For example see the entry for the River Brent area, Brentford
• Modern developments at Brentford Lock West website, including apartments available for sale today
• The History of Brentford includes a timeline of Brentford history. Kath Richardson adds all comments gratefully received. This will provide you with the all-important context if you are researching your family history in Brentford.
• Thanks to Barry Draper (formerly of 52 Distillery Road) for the following sighting: 'I remember seeing a film being made in Pottery Road when I must have been 9 ish, 1952.
  The film was the “Gentle Gunman” made by Ealing Studios. The film had all the known Brits of the time John Mills, Dirk Bogard etc...
  I found it hiding on YOU TUBE and about an hour in, the drama centres in Pottery Road with some of the residents making fleeting appearances.'
• YouTube clip: Brentford Is Brilliant; thanks to Quentin Pickard for spotting this
• "The real fear was the Workhouse which was at Isleworth, next door to West Middx Hospital"(Harry Langley); thanks to Brenda Bostock (nee Mortlock) for sending the following link http://eddieolliffe.wordpress.com/tag/acton-lane-power-station/ : the story of George Olliffe, Victorian pauper, Brentford Union
• British History Online web site includes heaps of information to assist in family and local history research, see coverage for Acton, Chiswick, Ealing and Brentford, West Twyford, Willesden. For Ealing and Brentford the following subjects are covered:
  Introduction, Communications, Growth of Ealing, Growth of Brentford, Social and cultural activities, Manors, Other estates, Economic history, Local government, Public services, Churches: Ealing, Churches: Brentford, Roman catholicism, Protestant nonconformity, Ukrainian orthodox church, Judaism, Education, Charities for the poor; thanks to Roger Davis
• 'Britain From Above' has 7 images for Brentford; this website features Aerofilms Ltd aerial photos from 1919 - 2006 searchable by placename, including a great view of the High Street; thanks to Trevor Mitchell for sending details
• Angie Beck sent a link to 'Victorian Crime and Punishment' (http://vcp.e2bn.org/) searchable by place name - see example search for Brentford, includes photos of criminals; sometimes Brentford and Brentwood (Essex) are confused; the site is also searchable by name
• The British Newspaper Archive plans to offer up to 40 million newspaper pages from the British Library's collection on-line over the next 10 years; at present the main title local to Brentford is the 'West Middlesex Advertiser and Family Journal'; free searches are available, at present (December 2011) over 3 million pages are available; I have prepared a page with more details including a link to the BNA website
• Jackie Day has discovered another great on-line resource: the Getty Images website, includes photos of Bees players back to the 1920's and some of the building of Griffin Park, 1935. Type 'Brentford' in the 'Search' box and 'tick' the 'Editorial images' option then click on 'Search'; the results can be sorted to view oldest first; you can also search a range of years; double click on an image to see a larger version
• Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society includes details of their current programme of events
• Brentford community web site Brentford TW8.com
• Brentford Dock web site includes historic photos of the Brentford Dock area, and articles about local people/places, eg John Horne Tooke, a 2010 visit to John Horne Tooke's grave (this also includes a description of St Mary's Church, Ealing - used by Old Brentford people pre 1828) and a history of St Lawrence Church and Characters
• Thomas Layton collection. Thomas Layton lived in Brentford between 1826 & 1911; an avid collector he left over 20,000 objects when he died
• Roll of Honour, Brentford War Memorial. The memorial stands outside Brentford Library 'IN HONOURED MEMORY OF THE MEN OF BRENTFORD 1914 – 1918, 1939 - 1945' ; the page includes a link to the Brentford Gas, Light and Coke Company war memorial 1914 - 1919
• 1841 Street Index for Brentford Registration District, part of The National Archives 'Your Archives' project, useful if you want to pinpoint a specific Brentford address in the census; or see below for Your Archives home page (NB Your Archives was replaced by the Discovery Service in 2012 but the Brentford street index links still work, as at April 2013)
• 1851 Street Index for Brentford Registration District, as above; (NB Your Archives was replaced by the Discovery Service in 2012)
• Jackie Day writes 'a film made in 1958, 'Hell Drivers', has a short clip of Brentford High Street in it. You can see the wall of the gas works and the 'hero' going into one of the myriad of small shops on the opposite side of the road. It stars Stanley Baxter, David McCallum and a very young Sean Connery'; Jackie sent a link to the Reel Streets website, search on 'Hell Drivers' and scroll down to see a couple of photos, one shows numbers 330 onwards on the left
• Diana Willment has written a number of local history books about Brentford, see her new website 'Diana Willment, a life in Brentford' for details of her publications and how to order them; link not working as at June 2012
• Jackie Day recommends the British Pathe News website; for example see a short film of Band's Parchment works, Plough Yard, 1939 ; on the home page search for Brentford
• See Brentford High Street (then and now) on the BBC website

Brentford Plus

• Edith's Streets: a blog about London (and Greater London) streets - what the buildings are, what the background is.
• Forebears surname distribution (and more**) website; offers surname distribution by town, county and country; ** "Forebears is a reference aid that helps researchers find historical and genealogical records naming their ancestors"; thanks to David Hopkins for suggesting ** New
• 'Britain From Above' website features Aerofilms Ltd aerial photos from 1919 - 2006 searchable by placename; thanks to Trevor Mitchell for sending details
• Vicki Powys sent links she used to identify a military uniform: Achtung Blitzkrieg includes a clear, colour photo of WW1 British officers Tunic, the site also includes German, USA and other uniforms from WW2; the Old Magazine Articles site was interesting for insignia and stripes; finally The Great War Forum includes a thread about WWI British Army sleeve rank insignia (unsourced so recommend check other sites to verify)
• Angie Beck sent a link to 'Victorian Crime and Punishment' searchable by personal or place name; includes photos of criminals
• The British Newspaper Archive plans to offer up to 40 million newspaper pages from the British Library's collection on-line over the next 10 years; free searches are available, at present (December 2011) over 3 million pages are available; I have prepared a page with more details including a link to the BNA website
• Jackie Day has discovered another great on-line resource: the Getty Images website; can be searched by place name
• Howard Webb's postcards then and now blog focusing on West London, Middlesex, Surrey, Berks and Bucks is highly recommended. Each postcard image is accompanied by the modern day view
• Maps of London including one for Brentford and surrounding area ca 1940
• The British History Online web site describes itself as a 'digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles'. There is no charge to use this site, which includes text search facilities.
• You may find your ancestor appeared as a witness or defendant at the Old Bailey Proceedings from 1674 - 1913 web site, searchable by name
• A2A (Access to Archives) try a search on 'Brentford NEAR5 High Street" to find details of records which include 'Brentford' within five words of 'High Street'; I found several summaries of deeds this way
• The National Archives documents on line site (choose 'family history' from the left bar and then 'Wills' to see PCC wills index or 'Registers of Seamens Services' to see a searchable index of seamen who joined the Royal Navy between 1873 & 1923)
• London Metropolitan Archives holds wills proved at the Diocese of London Consistory Court, 1514 - 1858; 8 indexes (surnames A-B, C-D etc) for the 31,000 wills can be searched by surname or place; the LMA web site notes these testators had '... lands in more than one Archdeaconry within the Diocese, and (this) is the middle tier of the hierarchy of courts ... wills of those people with more wealth were generally proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC)... and those with less wealth in local Archdeaconry courts ...'; over 150 wills of Brentford people were proved at this court
• Historical directories site from Leicester University, it is possible to search by county, decade or use the keyword search for a person's name
• FreeBMD, a free index of births, marriages and deaths nearing completion for the period 1837 to late 1950s/early 1960s (as at April 2013); it is possible to limit searches to Brentford Registration District (choose 'Brentford' in the list of registration districts, or set 'volume' to '3a' to see a wider area including Brentford)
• West Middlesex Family History Society for anyone with family interests in the Brenford area: their home page shows the parishes covered
• Culture 24 National virtual museum: browse on 'Brentford'
• Great Britain Family Names: search on your surname to find out where it is most prevalent; I have tried this on Dear, Narroway, Napper (which appear in Brentford prior to 1850) with interesting results
• If you are struggling to date an old photo try Roger Vaughan's Victorian photographs site
• Phillimore's Middlesex parish register transcripts: marriages, searchable by surname; includes New Brentford, Ealing (which covered Old Brentford) & Hanworth, generally predates 1837
• Discovery: TNA's online document collections
• Internet Library of Early Journals website - ILEJ - at http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/ilej/ is a digital library of 18th and 19th Century journals, searchable on terms such as Brentford
• British Library British Newspapers 1800-1900 offers newpaper search facilities including an option to view 'free' entries only
• London Gazette web site, searchable by name back to the 1660s, images can be downloaded / text copied, all for free; it includes honours, medals, bankruptcy notices etc (thanks to Carole from Alberta for this link)
• The West Middlesex FHS site includes a map showing the New and Old Brentford parishes, and surrounding parishes, late 1830s
• I can highly recommend Peter Calver's LostCousins web site, worth registering for the excellent regular newsletter full of useful tips (see latest newsletter); I have started to add some Brentford entries to the site, hope others will join in; thank you to Muriel Wallington for pointing me to this site
• You can order birth, marriage and death certificates for your Brentford ancestors online from the London Borough of Hounslow at http://www.hounslow.gov.uk/index/online_forms.htm ? Certificates cost £10 each; thanks to Janet McNamara for passing on the details
• Jackie Day recommends British Pathe News website to local and family historians; on the home page search for any placename or topic
• Thames Discovery Programme 'Explore the archaeology and history of the Thames foreshore, London’s biggest archaeological site, with our exciting Heritage Lottery funded project': thanks to Jackie Day for this link
• English Heritage Images of England site contains photos of the listed properties in Brentford, also descriptions of their interiors; another of their sites offers searches of National Monument Record images, recommended by Jackie Day
• London Lives is a free, searchable database of records from eight archives; material featured is mainly for the period 1690 - 1800, recommended by Selby Whittingham; a keyword search shows 230 matches on 'Brentford' in the 1800-1820 period
• Historic Hospital Admission Records Project (HHARP) is a free, searchable database of 120,000 admission records to four children’s hospitals: three in London, the Great Ormond Street Hospital, the Evelina and the Alexandra Hip Hospital for Children, and one from Glasgow, the Royal Hospital for Sick Children; between them the databases cover a period from 1852 to 1913; includes 100 Brentford children admissions; recommended by Lost Cousins

Updated April 2013; links last checked June 2012