Genealogy Chat

We ahave been passed on some information that a member of the family was supposed to have been a light house keeper, and the lights he was supposed to have worked. We wrote to Trinity House but they say that they have no one of that name on their records. Any suggestions? How would I get hold of a list of all the people employed by Trinity House for a certain period (without breaking privacy laws for the other employees) Any help would be greatfully appreciated. June (Adelaide Australia)

i kept getting that with the police forceabt my gt grandfather no such officer hass ever served i knew he had as i have police batton and a photoso i kept emailing and suprise suprise they suddenly found him

June What timescale are you looking at? I don't know if this will be any help: http://www.genuki(.)org(.)uk/big/Coastguards/ Angela

June Depending on the timescale..... Have you had a look on the National Archives website? I know they had downloadable documents for a distant relative of mine who was a coastgauard, mid to late 1800s. Chris

The problem may (I repeat may) lie with the lighthouse where he was keeper. There were a very few which were not Trinity House but most were. Trinity House and coastguards were separate organisations as far as I am aware. C

Another thought... On British Origins www.britishorigins(.)com pay to view but you can do a limited search for free. Again depends on the timescale. From the website 'Trinity House was responsible for the supervision of lighthouses round the English coast, and also distributed charitable funds to disabled seamen and their families. The Trinity House Papers, which were gifted to the Society of Genealogists, are a very rich source of genealogical information. Covering the period 1787 to 1854, most of the papers are Petitions for aid, submitted by the seaman or, often, his widow. The Petitions contain a wealth of family information, about the seaman and his dependents. Other papers include Apprenticeship Indentures of seamen, and a collection of Miscellaneous papers, consisting mainly of marriage and baptismal certificates. These papers cover families from all over the United Kingdom. The Calendars, which are detailed, printed, indexes to the papers, in name order, have been digitised and a surname index (6,500 records) allows easy searching of these calendars. Hard copies of the original papers can be ordered online.' Chris

Thank you for your replies I will take up your suggestions and see how much futher we can get. Angela like you we have a photo (which we believe is him in front of one of the lighthouses). also a list of teh light houses he worked at, so I also go back to Trinity House again. Cheers June

Hi June, Trinity House has a web site. http://www*trinityhouse*co*uk/corporation/genealogy*html replace stars with dots. This is there genealogy link if you go half way down page there is a list of past workers you have to click on this it takes you to another site. Have tried this but at the moment it will not work they may be updating or the link may have gone, but it did work before, keep on trying. There is also lots of photos of the lighthouses on here in the gallery section. Happy hunting Brenda.

thank you all for your help. I have managed to locate not 1 but 2 relatives who were lighthouse keepers. Regards June

Hi all, Just incase anyone needs to know. Trinity house only runs England and Wales lighthouses. Best wishes Brenda.