Mar 282013
 
Manor Hotel Meriden meeting room

Join us at the first Families in British India Society (FIBIS) Conference 16-18 May 2014 at the four-star Best Western Plus Manor Hotel near Birmingham. BOOK NOW and enjoy an early bird discount.

FIBIS Conference venue

Building on the success of our one-day open lecture meetings, FIBIS trustees are now preparing a three-day conference where FIBIS members and the general public can learn more about this fascinating period in their ancestors’ lives.

Over the weekend delegates can enjoy presentations on a wide range of subjects connected with the British in India, take part in open forum discussions and workshops and put questions to the experts.

What’s on at the FIBIS conference?

A friendly and social gathering in the heart of England

Lectures

Enjoy specialist lectures on British India and Society. Speakers that have confirmed they will speak so far are:

  • Charles Allen – historian and writer
  • Peter Bailey – FIBIS Chairman and author
  • Gill Blanchard – historian, genealogist and author
  • Anne de Courcy – writer and journalist
  • Michael Gandy – genealogist and author
  • Sylvia Murphy – former FIBIS Australian membership liaison and genealogist
  • Jayne Shrimpton – dress historian, portrait specialist and photo detective
  • Hedley Sutton – British Library Asia Pacific and Africa Collections Reading Room Manager

A couple more people have yet to confirm, but will be added to our list of speakers on the official conference website when they do.

Experts

Ask our experts to help you solve your family history puzzles

Connections

Meet other family researchers, compare notes and display documents and photographs

Other activities

Other activities include:

  • Gala dinner
  • Special interest groups
  • Workshops and 1:1 sessions on:
    • identifying research sources
    • making the best use of our website
    • contributing to FIBIwiki
    • social networking and social media

Visit the conference website to find out further details. BOOK NOW and enjoy an early bird discount

Aug 272012
 

Title: Manchester Open Meeting – 22 Sept 2012
Location: Museum of Science and Industry, Liverpool Road, Manchester, M3 4FP.
Link out: Click here
Description: 

 By popular demand, FIBIS is holding a special Open Meeting in Manchester for both FIBIS members and the general public.

The meeting will be on Saturday, 22nd September 2012.

It will be held at Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI), Liverpool Road, Manchester, M3 4FP. Details of how to get there are available at http://www.mosi.org.uk/visiting-us/where-are-we.aspx

The Meeting

10am to 1pm - A Morning Surgery. Bring your questions on family history in British India to our experts and ask them to help you jump your ‘brick wall’.
1.30 to 2.30pm – Lecture 1. “How to Research your Ancestors in British India” by Peter Bailey, FIBIS Chairman.
2.30 to 3.15pm – Lecture 2. “From Boarhurst to Bangalore: The Story of James Bradbury, woolen cloth dresser who sought his fortune in India” by Geraldine Charles, FIBIS trustee.

3.15 to 3.45pm – Break for refreshments.

3.45 to 4.30pm – Lecture 3. “Researching the Armies of British India” by Peter Bailey.
4.30 to 4.50 – Open Forum: A general question and answer session.
5.00pm – Meeting closes.

Start Time: 10:00
Date: 2012-09-22
End Time: 17:00

Apr 082012
 

Title: Manchester Open Meeting – 22 Sept 2012
Location: Museum of Science and Industry, Liverpool Road, Manchester, M3 4FP.
Link out: Click here
Description: By popular demans, FIBIS is holding a special Open Meeting in Manchester for both FIBIS members and the general public.

The meeting will be on Saturday, 22nd September 2012.

It will be held at Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI), Liverpool Road, Manchester, M3 4FP. Details of how to get there are available at http://www.mosi.org.uk/visiting-us/where-are-we.aspx

The Meeting

10am to 1pm – A Morning Surgery. Bring your questions on family history in British India to our experts and ask them to help you jump your ‘brick wall’.
1.30 to 2.30pm – Lecture 1. “How to Research your Ancestors in British India” by Peter Bailey, FIBIS Chairman.
2.30 to 3.15pm – Lecture 2. “From Boarhurst to Bangalore: The Story of James Bradbury, woolen cloth dresser who sought his fortune in India” by Geraldine Charles, FIBIS trustee.

3.15 to 3.45pm – Break for refreshments.

3.45 to 4.30pm – Lecture 3. “Researching the Armies of British India” by Peter Bailey.
4.30 to 4.50 – Open Forum: A general question and answer session.
5.00pm – Meeting closes.
Start Time: 10:00
Date: 2012-09-22
End Time: 17:00

Feb 292012
 

Title: The British in India
Location: Augustine United Church Centre, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh
Link out: Click here
Description: FIBIS trustee, Elaine MacGregor, will be speaking about the British in India to the Scottish Genealogy Society at the Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh on 26th March 2012 at 19.00 for 19.30. Guests are welcome.
Start Time: 19:00
Date: 2012-03-26
End Time: 20:30

Feb 062012
 

Title: Spring Open Meeting – 26 May 2012.
Location: Chancellor’s Suite at the Hughes-Parry Hall, University of London, 19-26, Cartwright Gardens London WC1H 9EF.
Description: The meeting will take place in the Chancellor’s Suite at the Hughes-Parry Hall, University of London, 19-26, Cartwright Gardens London WC1H 9EF.

Morning, 10am-12.30pm

Peter Bailey, FIBIS Chairman, and other trustees will be holding a ‘surgery’ in the Chancellor’s Room to offer advice to anyone wishing for help in solving a difficult genealogical problem.

Afternoon, 1.00pm for a 1.30pm start.

The programme will be as follows:

1. “British India from Old Postcards, Haunts of Your Ancestors

Robert Butterworth gives a presentation detailing his impressive British India postcard collection. As a boy in ’50′s Britiain he picked up a handful of cards in a junk shop using his pocket money. Robert was enchanted by what seemed to him a most colourful, exotic and vibrant land and thus began a lifelong hobby, during which he has amasses over 5000 postcards.

Break for refreshments.

2. “The Irish in India, 1790-1920

A lecture by Peter Bailey, FIBIS Chairman. The cost of recruiting in Ireland and the fact that Roman Catholics were prohibited from carrying arms, meant that only a small number of Protestants finding their own way to England joined the EIC & British armies. However, the repeal of the Penal Laws in 1778 attracted numbers of Irishmen who grew to comprise some 50% of these armies by the early 19th century. This lecture describes how to research the records of these Irishmen in India and the effect that they had on the social life in that country.

In between talks there will be refreshments and time for members to discuss matters of common interest. There will also be a bookstall selling FIBIS Guides and Fact Files, and other books relating to the history of British India. Mr Butterworth will also be bringing his duplicate postcards to sell.

All are welcome and the meeting is free-of-charge – but those wishing to attend should inform Fibis Membership Secretary, Emma Sullivan of their intention to do so.

Start Time: 10:00
Date: 2012-05-06

Feb 062012
 

Title: The Irish in India, 1790-1920 – 12 May 2012
Location: 34, Chepstow Villas, London W11
Link out: Click here
Description: FIBIS Chairman, Peter Bailey, will be giving a talk on “The Irish in India, 1790-1920″.

The venue is 34 Chepstow Villas, Bayswater, W11 near Notting Hill Gate Underground Station.

For further details please see the Irish Genealogical Research Society website http://www.igrsoc.org/2012agm.htm
Start Time: 10:30
Date: 2012-05-12

Nov 102011
 

FIBIS is pleased to announce that Debbie Kennett will be signing copies of her book DNA and Social Networking: A Guide to Genealogy in the Twenty-First Century at the FIBIS AGM and lecture meeting on Saturday 12 November. Debbie will also be giving a free talk on Ancestral Research through DNA and explain the use of Y-, mitochondrial and autosomal-DNA for researching family history with special emphasis on British India. Anybody interested in the FIBIS DNA project might find this lecture particularly useful and Debbie hopes to also have some FTNA DNA testing discount vouchers to hand out.

FIBIS members and members of the public are all welcome.

Nov 082011
 

Title: Guild Seminar: Army Records – 18 Feb 2012
Location: Ash Victoria Hall, 121 Ash Hill Road, Ash, Surrey, GU12 5DN
Description: FIBIS Chairman, Peter Bailey, will be giving a talk on “Records of the British Armies in India”.
Date: 2012-02-18

Nov 032011
 

Title: LDS Family History Centre Open Day at Cherry Hinton
Location: Queen Elizabeth Way, Cherry Hinton, you turn into Greystoke Rd for the Car Park

Description: FIBIS Chairman, Peter Bailey, will be giving a talk on British India Family History research at LDS Family History Centre Open Day in Cherry Hinton. Other representatives from FIBIS will also be there to help answer questions and advise researchers.

Date: 2011-11-19

Nov 032011
 

Title: Who Do You Think You Are – Live 2012
Location: Olympia, London
Link out: Click here
Description: FIBIS will again have a stand at ‘Who Do You Think You Are – Live’. Our team will be available to answer your questions for all three days of the event and our Chairman, Peter Bailey, will be giving the following talk at the exhibition on Fri 24th Feb at 4.30.

Researching Ancestors in British India

Some three million Britons lived and served in India over the three and a half centuries of Britain’s presence there. From 1600 to Independence in 1947, the East India Company, and the British controlled Government of India, won that country with their armies and governed it with a Civil Service. Britons from all social classes were recruited to run every aspect of social, commercial, political, economic and military life and many today have ancestors who took part in this.

Excellent records of such persons are available. Peter Bailey will explain these and where and how to access them.

Who Do You Think You Are? Live returns to London’s Olympia on 24-26th February for its sixth year. You’ll find leading genealogy experts, one to one sessions, informative workshops and over 150 exhibitors specialising in researching your family tree all under one roof.

More to explore

Sponsored by Ancestry.co.uk, the 2012 show will feature even more exciting ways to look deeper into your ancestry whether you’re just starting out on your family history trail or you’re a seasoned researcher. Ask an expert for advice, identify and date those mystery photos, attend one of our informative workshops and investigate the resources of libraries, museums and family history societies from across the UK.

Look, listen, learn

There’ll be some great new interactive features to be unveiled at this year’s show along with old favourites like the Military Pavilion and the Society of Genealogists’ Workshop Programme.

The Celebrity Theatre will once again play host to stars from BBC1’s television series Who Do Think You Are? and the first confirmed celebrity  is actor Larry Lamb. Larry will be taking to the stage at WDYTYA? Live and talking about his experience on the TV show and his ancestry trail; a journey which took him from a fairground menagerie to the outskirts of Los Angeles.

And we will also be seeing the return of our ‘Heirloom Detective’, antiques expert Eric Knowles. Eric will be on hand in the Photography Gallery to date and identify your family treasures, so bring them along to the show and find out more about the relics which have been passed down the generations of your family.

And if this isn’t enough there will also be a bigger dedicated Irish section this year for all of you whose family tree harks back to the Emerald Isle. The area will have Irish genealogical experts on hand to point you in the right direction for discovering your Irish heritage. There’ll also be regional workshops which will focus on the other Celtic countries this year where you can learn about researching ancestors from Scotland and Wales.

You can also visit the huge variety of companies and services involved in family history who are exhibiting at the event; from all the major online resource holders to libraries, museums and dozens of family history societies from across the UK. Not to mention all the companies who can show you how to create and store your family tree information, restore your old photos, take a genealogy course and more. There is a vast array of exhibitors who can provide the information and advice you need.

Discover it all

It’s your chance to be part of the world’s biggest family history show, so why not go and share your experiences and meet others who are just as enthusiastic about looking into their past as you are?

You can book your tickets for WDYTYA? Live by phoning 0844 873 7330 or by visiting www.whodoyouthinkyouarelive.co.uk where you’ll also find all the latest news as well as great competitions and offers. You could also join the Facebook group and follow @WDYTYALIVE on Twitter so you can share your thoughts about the show.

Start Date: 2012-02-24
Start Time: 09:00
End Date: 2012-02-26
End Time: 17:00