Genealogy Chat

I'm in AUSTRALIA. My parents emigrated in 1950. In doing my family tree I've had wonderful help from many GR members..THANKYOU. However my big issue at the moment is where are these places... I have no idea if Southhampton is very close to London (actually I'm sure it's in London) but you get the idea... Where is Lambeth in relation to Battersea etc... I look at the huge lists of birthplaces and have no idea if they're in the north or the south or England AT ALL!! CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHERE I CAN GET A COPY OF A MAP SHOWING THE LONDON AREA??? Many thanks in anticipation of a reply. :) Lucy Blue Mountains New South Wales AUSTRALIA

Hi, Southampton is about 2 hours perhaps or maybe a bit further from London and that's on the motorways. It's on the coast Lambeth and Battersea are very close. Linda

Two things 1) Would you please remove the swear word from your message title? 2) Use the internet - google and multimap(.)co(.)uk to find places. Remove the () from the url.

Southampton isnt in London Im afraid, its in Hampshire. Lambeth and Battersea are fairly close to each other, south of the river Thames in London. We tend to think of places as south of the thames, Lambeth, Rotherhithe, Camberwell, Bermondsey, Greenwich Deptford etc. On old census these may be shown as Surrey or Kent. OR North of the river are the old Middlesex and city areas and the east end. If you have a registration district you can google for the Genuki site which lists all the areas included. Im sure if you googled you would find a decent map.It would be very easy to find one. To be honest, this is very easy, readily available info; you need to get yourself more organised if you then intend to go on to sourcing really difficult stuff.

www.streetmap*co.uk is very helpful to me - you can zoom in or out and look for places, roads or London streets. I am sure there's a bookshop somewhere in Australia or on the net where you could buy a British Isles atlas for a small amount.

If you google Southampton, the first hit is a map! It's on the south coast above the Isle of Wight. There's no need to swear if you want to ask a question. Janice

Oh good - no swear words in the title now - thank you.

My comments about recognising different cultures doesn't seem to have been appreciated. ;-) Try buying an A-Z of London from Amazon Lucille. If you want to know where any London places are then you can always ask on here. Ok Cobber? Cheers, Horatia

London places are on www.streetmap*co.uk - or you can always google. I would suggest you buy an A-Z of London though - they MUST sell them in Australia for the tourist trade. They come in lots of formats - hardback, paperback, spiral bound and cover inner London, Greater London etc. A-Z will also have administrative boundaries which is useful. You will soon get to know your way about. Since doing my family tree, my geography has improved amazingly! nell

Two very useful sites for maps. http://users.bathspa.ac(.)uk/greenwood/home(.)html http://archivemaps(.)com/mapco/lewis/lewis(.)htm Remove ( ) Jennifer

Well Horatia, we swear a lot in these parts too (well, you know what us Norfolk Dumplings are like, call a spade a ************** shovel -)- to be honest I didnt even take in the word until people commented on it!

Streetmap or Multimap are good. Alternatively, if your system is robust enough to instal Google Earth you can zoom in and out and get a real feel for the relative locations.

Heather, I have Aussie rellies on both sides of my family and that word just isn't a swear word to them, so I'm sure Lucille wasn't meaning to be offensive; she was just talking like a normal Aussie ;-) However, the powers that be decree otherwise! ;-) All power to Norfolk Dumplings and True Blue Aussies!! My geography has improved enormously doing this hobby but I can often be heard shouting to my hubby - where the bloomin' heck is Sculcoates? I'm OK with London and Norfolk places! ;-) Cheers, Horatia

Same here Heather. I thought with Australians like the Welsh it had become non swearing, sort of endearingly idiosyncratic - say it with an accent!

Well my darling dad was the gentlest kindest man I have had the privilege to know, a real east ender and to them it was just another adjective - bless - shocking if you werent used to it but never used in an aggressive way, just a descriptive one. Though I should add here I do not advocate the use of swear words, it tends to lessen their impact when used on the rare occasion. Good luck in finding your maps and rellies Lucille.

Flak jacket & hard hat on here Heather & Horatia :))))) Different cultures, generations or whatever. All I did was politely ask the OP to remove one word. If you feel that was wrong, then we will have to agree to disagree:)) I'm afraid that I personally feel it unnecessary to use such words on the boards. Which presumably is why the message board guidelines say 'Please don’t communicate anything that is, or could be considered, abusive, vulgar, offensive or threatening – your behaviour must be polite, patient, and not intended to cause (or capable of causing) trouble or offence to other members' The spoken language can be even worse, and the gratuitous use of 'swear' words is heard far too often. How many times do you hear parents using the F word when talking (often with their children in tow). Next thing you know a 3 year old is swearing like a trooper!!! If a word is used often enough in a sentence, then it loses its point. And apologies to Lucille for going slightly off topic. Jools

Heather, I'm from East End stock myself and I think perhaps we understand the Aussies! ;-) I didn't notice the word either until people pointed it out. Lucille's message was actually very complimentary about GR users so I hope she gets her London places sorted. I'm happy to help her at any time and she can PM me any ****** time if she gets stuck! ;-) Cheers, Horatia Jools, I would recommend that you don't visit Oz if the word upsets you. :-)

Ok Jools - point taken.

Oh, no need for flak jacket Jools - I quite agree with you - just adding my pennys worth re Horatia's comments re cultural/geographical nuances. Quite agree with you, its become a world where when you are out shopping all you hear is swearing every other word and I do find it offensive - in fact insulting to the surrounding peeps. ( I bet they couldnt spell the words though!) Times have changed and not for the better. Wouldnt it be lovely if when you were out you heard people talking in the constructive and illustrative English language. It would make everyone feel so much better. One of the most beautiful, expressive languages in the world and all you hear is gutter talk.

Jools, I agree with Heather. I am not a swearer myself and deplore hearing young children swearing. Nothing worse in my opinion - but the swear words you are referring to are far more shocking and offensive than the word Lucille used, which was mild (IMHO) ;-) However, back to the question of finding places...... Lucille, I'm sure you will find geographical help on these boards from us poms! :-) Cheers, Horatia (who hopes poms isn't classed as a swear word) ;-)